Mission: Protect Harry
by wicl93
Summary: Albus hires shinobi to protect Harry (and Hogwarts) during Harry's fifth year. However, Harry has a secret that not even he knows about. WARNINGS: SasuNaru, HarryxDraco, Drarry, possibly other yaoi pairings
1. 1 - The Beginning

Normal Text

_Thoughts_

**_Flashback_**

SUMMARY: Albus hires shinobi to protect Harry (and Hogwarts) during Harry's fifth year. However, Harry has a secret that not even he knows about.

WARNINGS: SasuNaru, HarryxDraco, Drarry, possibly other yaoi pairings

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or Naruto, they are the property of J. K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto respectively

* * *

_**"But we need more protection, Albus!"**_

_**"Constant vigilance!"**_

_**"The kids may be in danger!"**_

_**"You need to get outside help!"**_

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, thinking back to the meeting the previous evening with the Order of the Phoenix. He knew that, with Tom back, he needed more protection for the students of the school, especially Harry. He had also heard rumours, reported to him via Severus, that Tom apparently had some new power which allowed him to attack his enemies with magically conjured snakes any time he chose to do so. The last remark from an Order member stuck in his head – outside help. He had thought about this for some time, considering various options, when he came upon the idea of hiring ninjas – they would obey their employer, not the current (_abysmal_, he thought) Minister for Magic. And ninjas would offer better protection than he could at the school. Also, if questioned by the Ministry, he could merely pass it off as an attempt to form cultural links, not political ones.

Albus decided, then, to seek help from the ninja world. He left his office and walked, fairly rapidly, through the school, heading towards the dungeons. He soon arrived at Severus' office, knocked, then entered upon hearing the reply from inside.

"Good morning, Severus", Albus said cheerfully.

"Good morning, Headmaster. I trust you have a good reason to be disturbing the time I have set aside for preparing lesson plans, especially as the school year starts in a week."

"Indeed I do. I was thinking about what we should do regarding the issue of protecting our students, and I have decided that hiring ninjas would be a good idea."

"You want to hire shinobi?" Severus asked in surprise. "Surely that may allow the Minister to suggest that you are making political advances?"

"Perhaps, perhaps not. However, I remember you informing me once of a relative in magical Japan, who themselves had relatives in the ninja world. Is my memory correct?"

"Indeed. My mother's sister married a Japanese wizard who had cousins in the shinobi world, although I rarely speak to that side of my family, as you know."

"You also speak Japanese fluently, do you not?"

"I do, Headmaster, but you must understand that to maintain my position within the Dark Lord's ranks, I cannot accompany you on this mission, or else he may..."

"That is irrelevant", Albus interrupted. "Tell Tom yourself, if you must, and it will presumably deter him from attacking."

"I doubt that will be the case, but if you are certain, then the spell that will allow us to travel to the shinobi world is in a book I have in my quarters. As you likely are already aware, the spell is in Japanese to ensure that visitors will speak the shinobi language. When do you wish to depart?"

"I see no reason to delay. If we go now then that will allow them some time to make preparations and still arrive before the beginning of the school year", Albus replied. Severus nodded, having little other choice but to obey, and left the office, returning a few moments later with a book. He incanted a few words which Albus didn't recognise, and suddenly the two found themselves outside the gates of a large oriental palace. Two guards approached and Severus spoke to them in Japanese, _clearly conveying the necessary information_ Albus thought to himself.

The guards led the two wizards into the palace, and through to a large area where a dark-haired man sat on a throne. Severus spoke, relaying Albus' message. He then turned to Albus and waved his wand between Albus and the man.

"This will allow us to communicate as if you are both speaking each other's native languages, daimyo-sama", Severus explained. Although Albus knew that his employee was still speaking Japanese, he understood what Severus had said.

The enthroned man spoke: "I agree that forging deeper links may be of some use, especially as the magical areas of most countries have some level of communication, while we are limited to Japan and a few individuals who speak our language, as it is required to get here."

"I agree also", Albus replied, "which is why I was hoping that you could help us with this matter. I would be employing these ninja myself, as a personal mission, with no political connections, but that may change while they are there."  
"That seems reasonable. In that case, I will ask the shinobi village to send shinobi capable of an S-rank mission like this, and, as there is an active Hokage, I will suggest that he goes also. It will take a day or so to relay this message and receive a reply, however."  
"May we return tomorrow then, daimyo-sama?", Severus asked.

"Very well."

Severus removed the translation spell and then incanted a verse similar to that from earlier, which returned Albus and Severus to the latter's office. Albus thanked Severus for his assistance and left the office, returning to his own and hoping that the shinobi would reply quickly.

* * *

A lone figure stood atop the Hokage tower, dressed in a white robe over an orange shirt and black trousers. He stood there, observing the village, until he heard someone land behind him, clearly having jumped from a nearby building, although he had sensed the other approaching for some time. He continued to look out over the village as the other person moved to stand beside him. The other was dressed in a short sleeved, high collared white shirt and dark blue trousers with a purple cloth around them, tied around the waist with a purple rope in a loose bow at the front.

"Did you want me, Sasuke?"

"What are you doing up here?"

"You really should call me Hokage-sama, you know?", the first figure asked jokingly. "After all, I am your superior now, and..."

"Shut up, dobe", Sasuke interrupted, turning to move inside the Hokage tower, the other following him, smiling. They reached the door of an office and went inside, Sasuke closing the door behind them.

"You also shouldn't tell me to shut up, and use the correct honorific now that I am your Hokage, so call me Hokage-sama or Rokudaime-sama, or Naruto-sama..." he was interrupted by the insistent press of lips against his. Naruto fought back for a moment, but quickly yielded to Sasuke's demanding tongue, knowing that Sasuke would never submit in the same way. After a few moments, they broke apart.

"Naruto, I..." Sasuke was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Naruto pushed Sasuke backwards slightly before moving to sit at his desk. He then told the person to enter. Sasuke left the room as the other entered, a blonde woman in a green outfit, who did not look her age. Sasuke did not acknowledge her but left the office and the tower, moving silently through the village and avoiding the looks he received from many of the people, intending to return later and have his dobe all to himself.

Naruto motioned to the woman to sit down opposite him.

"Good morning Baa-chan."

"Naruto, we have received a request from the daimyo, which he received from the magical community of a country called Britain. It requests we send a team to guard a group of young people, one in particular, who is the target of an evil wizard with whom they are at war. The daimyo has requested that you personally go, along with Kakashi." Naruto sat there, taking in this information.

"Yeah sure, did you want Team 7 to go?" he asked. "I bet Sasuke would find it fun." Tsunade paused for a moment, especially as Naruto and Sasuke believed that no-one was aware of their relationship – _really, how stupid did they think she was, when her office was right next door, and she'd spent several years on a team with at least one pervert. Even so, she would still recognise those noises, after all, she wasn't naive_ – before answering:

"I think it would be a good idea to take Team Gai, but as both Gai and Lee are currently injured, due to over-exertion with the rebuilding, you, Kakashi, Neji and Tenten could go, and then I could send Gai and Lee on to you later, once they are recovered."

"What about Sasuke? He hasn't gone on a proper mission yet, and I know we have been rebuilding the village, but his first proper mission was interrupted..."

"I don't think that's a good idea", Tsunade interrupted. "The elders still want to keep an eye on Sasuke, especially as, on his first proper mission as you put it, he ran off without telling his teammates where he was going."

"But Pain was attacking! And he vowed to protect the village! Am I the only one who trusts him?"

Tsunade chose her words carefully: "Naruto, you know more about the situation regarding Sasuke's return than anyone else does. Besides, I may be able to send him to you later on, once he's been around a little longer, as the mission is at least 6 months, if not 9..."

"Thanks, Baa-chan", Naruto responded eagerly. Tsunade wondered if he realised how keen he was acting at just the possibility that he wouldn't have to be separated from Sasuke for less than a year...even though he was Hokage now, he was an active Hokage, and would still go on some missions, as would Sasuke...

"All right, then, you, Kakashi, Tenten and Neji will leave tomorrow. I will reply to the daimyo who can pass on our response to the wizards, and we can determine how best to get you there. You will also have to use a jutsu to allow you to speak and understand their language."

"Okay, baa-chan, you sort it all and I'll go!" Naruto replied. Tsunade nodded, smiling at his enthusiasm, and left his office, while Naruto turned his chair to stare out of the window, _presumably thinking about Sasuke,_ Tsunade thought.

* * *

_**Naruto jumped from branch to branch, moving quickly through the forest. He felt more of his shadow clones pop and hoped that there would be enough left until they and the rest of his team finished fighting Tobi. Suddenly, tendrils of black flame shot out of the sky, surrounding the area. Naruto had managed to move just inside the area which was being set on fire. He moved up to the top of a tree and saw that there was black fire burning all around a central area where there was a collapsed building, and...Sasuke's chakra! Naruto continued moving through the forest, quicker now, as he approached the remains of the building. He jumped onto the collapsed roof and saw two figures a little way away from him, one lying on the floor, face up, with long dark hair, in purple clothes and bleeding, the other sat on the floor beside him, shirtless and in dark trousers, leaning against a collapsed section of wall which bore the crest of the Uchiha clan.**_

_**"Teme!" Naruto shouted, not caring that anyone around might hear, especially as the black flames were still preventing anyone else from approaching, and he knew from his shadow clones that the Konoha shinobi were still fighting Tobi. Sasuke did not respond, merely sat there, as if he was in shock, staring at the lifeless body beside him, which, as he got closer, Naruto realised was Itachi. Naruto landed behind Sasuke, and looked down at the two Uchihas, one dead, the other seemingly almost so, given his injuries and lack of movement. Naruto squatted down beside him, and asked: "Are you okay?"**_

_**"Hn."**_

_**"Come on, teme, you killed him, right? That's what you wanted all this time, so come back to the village or I'm going to drag you back right now!"**_

_**"Okay."**_

_**"Fine then, I'll fight you, beat you, and drag you ba–" Naruto stopped mid-sentence. Did he just agree to come back? But why? Naruto remembered ero-sennin's words before he left Konoha on this mission, that Sasuke would have no reason to come back once he had killed Itachi "Did you just say 'okay'?"**_

_**"Yes, dobe. Now, are we going or not?" Sasuke asked, standing up. Naruto looked down at Itachi's body.**_

_**"Um, did you want to bring him, or bury him or something?"**_

_**"Someone might get his body. I'll burn him and this whole building once we're off the roof."**_

_**"Oh, okay. Are you alright?" Naruto asked, realising that there was clearly something wrong with his best friend. Before Sasuke could answer, Naruto put his arms around Sasuke's back and hugged him, pulling Sasuke flush against him.**_

_**"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked menacingly, his voice beside Naruto's ear, and his arms remaining at his sides, as his body stiffened in Naruto's arms. Naruto pulled back, releasing Sasuke from the unreciprocated hug.**_

_**"Er, nothing, I don't know," Naruto began, one hand going to the back of his head to rub it, like he always did when he was uncomfortable, "I guess I just missed you and everything, teme, so..." Naruto was interrupted by Sasuke hugging him, just briefly, before he turned back to Itachi's body, looked at it for a moment, then jumped off the roof. Naruto, who was taken aback for a moment at Sasuke's hug – yep, definitely in shock – then moved to follow, knowing that Sasuke-teme wouldn't hesitate to burn the building even with him still on it. He jumped down beside Sasuke just as flames shot from the other's mouth, destroying the building and burning Itachi's body to ash.**_

_**"Did you want your team to come with us?" Naruto asked as they moved through the forest, following Sasuke to where he assumed Sasuke's team was.**_

_**"Hn."**_

_**"Okay, then, I'm sure I can get baa-chan to agree." Sasuke didn't say anything else, and they arrived at a clearing in the forest. Just beyond, the still burning black flames were just beginning to recede as Sasuke and Naruto approached.**_

_**They continued walking until they came across three people, a girl with long red hair and two guys, one tall and broad, the other with pale hair and shark-like teeth.**_

_**"So what did we miss? And what's he doing here?", the pale-haired boy asked Sasuke.**_

_**"We're going to Konoha", Sasuke replied.**_

_**"What? But we just spent ages evading them, so you could get your revenge..." the red-headed girl began.**_

_**"We're going with him", Sasuke said, his tone clearly implying that no-one else should question him. The redhead opened her mouth to speak again, but a glare from Sasuke made her rethink this and remain silent.**_

_**"Er, yeah", Naruto said, "So the others were fighting that masked Akatsuki guy, I left shadow clones...which just finished popping. So, I think the fight is over, let me just look at their memories..."**_

_**When the masked Akatsuki appeared in front of them, Naruto knew he would try to stop them from reaching Sasuke. The others didn't notice, but when one of Naruto's shadow clones attacked the enemy with a Rasengan, and a second stood with the others, Naruto himself had run ahead to find his former teammate. Naruto saw the memories of Shino and Kiba wanting to bring Sasuke back, and was glad that he wasn't the only one who still wanted to rescue his friend – hopefully they would accept Sasuke and his team returning with them to Konoha. He saw, through the eyes of his now popped shadow clone, the failed attacks on the Akatsuki member. Then, a weird looking guy that looked like he was actually a plant rapidly grew out of the branch the first Akatsuki member was standing on.**_

_**"Sasuke has won. Itachi Uchiha is dead", the spiky aloe guy said.**_

_**"What?! I don't believe it! Just kidding...It's as I expected", the masked enemy said, in that annoying voice of his. The Naruto clone asked about Sasuke's location, but was ignored, while Kakashi just stared at the mask as if he had uncovered something shocking. The masked Akatsuki disappeared into the air just as Naruto's last shadow clone popped, out of chakra.**_

_**Naruto realised, on seeing how his clone popped, that the others would be wondering what happened to him.**_

_**"Yeah, so, they know that I wasn't there, so we should probably meet up with them", Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head. Sasuke's three teammates looked at him without moving, but Sasuke himself moved towards Naruto.**_

_**"Let's go, then."**_

_**Naruto, along with Sasuke and his team, soon reached the others from Konoha.**_

_**"Hi guys, so did you win?" Naruto asked cheerfully, as if there wasn't a nukenin standing beside him. The others looked at him for a moment. Sakura opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted:**_

_**"Are you coming back to Konoha?" Kakashi asked, directing the question at Sasuke.**_

_**"Hn", was the only response Kakashi got.**_

_**"Yeah, he is", Naruto said simultaneously, answering for Sasuke.**_

_**"Alright, let's go", Kakashi said.**_

_**"Senpai..." Yamato started.**_

_**"Our mission was to find and capture Itachi Uchiha so that Sasuke would return to the village. Itachi is dead, so we can't actually fulfil our mission, but the outcome is the same if we bring Sasuke back", Kakashi said.**_

_**"Ok, I guess, senpai..."**_

_**"Good. So let's go back."**_

* * *

Naruto, the Rokudaime Hokage, sat in his office, looking out the window. That was where our relationship started, he thought to himself, although we were close before that. After all that, we came back to the village, only for me to realise what it was that I sensed when I thought that someone touched my shoulder.

_**"What? Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto said to himself, as he looked up at the sound of a knock at his window.**_

_**"The Godaime has called for you", Kakashi said from outside Naruto's closed window. "Hurry up and get ready." Naruto did as Kakashi said and was soon following his sensei through the village to the Hokage tower. As he got closer he noticed that Gamabunta was outside, with Gamakichi sitting on his head.**_

_**"Hey Naruto", Gamakichi said.**_

_**"What are you guys doing here so early in the morning?" Naruto asked the toads. "Did something happen?"**_

_**"Well, actually...", Gamakichi began.**_

_**"Gamakichi, that is not for you to say!" Gamabunta interrupted. "It's better to leave it to the boss and Tsunade." Naruto looked confused for a moment, and questioned what was going on, but Kakashi told him to just keep moving. Naruto realised that something was happening, or had happened, but he followed his sensei anyway.**_

_**Naruto closed the door behind him as he entered Tsunade's office. He looked around, noticing everyone's sad faces, and that there were several toads in the room.**_

_**"Is tha kid Jiraiya-chan's student?" the old toad asked.**_

_**"Yes", Tsunade replied. "This is Naruto Uzumaki. The Child of Prophecy we spoke of earlier, right?"**_

_**"A toad geezer?" Naruto asked. "Seriously?"**_

_**"Watch your tongue, Naruto!" Tsunade scolded him. "This is one of the Two Great Sages of Mount Myouboku, Fukasaku-sama. He came here because he has some business with you."**_

_**"Tha correct term would be tha 'Two Great Toad Sages'," the old toad corrected Tsunade. "But, more importantly, there seems ta be no doubt that yer Jiraiya-chan's student."**_

_**"'Jiraiya-chan'?" Naruto repeated. "'Chan'?! Don't talk about ero-sennin as if he were a child!" He pointed an accusing finger at the old sage. "What the hell's up with this toad geezer?"**_

_**"I told you to watch your tongue!", Tsunade scolded again, leaning forwards slightly.**_

_**"He is the one who taught Jiraiya-sama sage jutsu", Shizune explained. "He's Jiraiya-sama's master."**_

_**"Ero-sennin, eh?" the old toad laughed. "Sounds like a fittin' nickname for Jiraiya-chan."**_

_**"So, what's this old ass sage want with me anyway?" Naruto asked.**_

_**"Now, where to begin...?" the old toad started. "Well, I guess I'll just tell ya... Jiraiya-chan was killed in battle."**_

_**"...What?" Naruto asked, partly in shock and partly in disbelief. "What...What did you just say?"**_

_**"I know it's sudden, and I don't blame ya if ya don't believe me..." the old toad continued, presumably explaining Jiraiya's mission, but Naruto wasn't really paying attention. The rest of his team joined the conversation, but Naruto just stood there. After a little while, Naruto interrupted them.**_

_**"Baa-chan...were you the one who sent him?" Naruto asked, not looking up from where he was staring at the floor. Tsunade paused for a moment.**_

_**"Yeah", she answered.**_

_**"Why did you let him do something so reckless?!" Naruto asked, his head coming up to stare accusingly at her. "You knew him better than anyone! How the hell could you send him to such a dangerous place?!" Naruto's voice rose, so that by the end he was practically shouting.**_

_**"Stop it, Naruto!" Kakashi said, putting his arm out to prevent Naruto from going any further. "There's no one here who understands her feelings as much as you", Kakashi explained.**_

_**"Damn it..." Naruto said, clenching his fist and turning to leave.**_

_**"Naruto!" Sakura said. "Where are you going?!" Naruto reached his hand out and gripped the handle to the door.**_

_**"If ero-sennin had been the Godaime Hokage, he would never have let Tsunade-baa-chan do something so reckless. Never..." Naruto walked out, closing the door behind him.**_

_**Naruto walked through Konoha, remembering some of the times he had spent with ero-sennin. The last one was of those twin ice lollies that Jiraiya would break in half so that they could each have some. A gust of wind blew past him, wafting some leaves up into the air. Naruto followed them with his eyes, looking up towards the sky. He noticed Sasuke standing on a roof, and wondered how long he had been there, as Naruto normally noticed Sasuke's presence long before he actually arrived. He kept walking, knowing that Sasuke would follow him.**_

_**After a little while, Naruto reached the training area in the forest around Konoha, Sasuke still following him. Naruto jumped up into one of the trees a short way into the forest and sat down on a branch around halfway up. A few moments later Sasuke landed beside him and sat down.**_

_**"Ero-sennin, he's...he's..." Naruto couldn't finish.**_

_**"I know."**_

_**"How?"**_

_**"I could tell from the way you are." Naruto looked at Sasuke, wondering how his friend could tell just from the way he was – was it that obvious? Or was it just because Sasuke and him had such a close bond? Before Naruto could respond, Sasuke wrapped an arm around Naruto's shoulder and turned Naruto's head towards him, manoeuvring them so that Naruto's head was on Sasuke's shoulder.**_

_**"Whoever it was that killed him, we'll get revenge. Or, if you'd like, I'll get revenge for you", Sasuke said into Naruto's ear. He then pulled back and looked at Naruto briefly, before placing a quick kiss on Naruto's forehead. Sasuke then jumped down from the tree.**_

_**Naruto vaguely remembered some ANBU arriving to remind Sasuke that he was still on probation, having only been back in Konoha for a few weeks, and couldn't just wander off into the woods. Naruto himself was too busy thinking about what Sasuke had said – since when did Sasuke get revenge for anyone but himself? And what the hell was with kissing him and being so nice? Naruto didn't understand what had been going on at the time.**_

* * *

Naruto was interrupted from his reminiscing by a knock at the door of his office. The door opened before Naruto responded, and Sasuke came in.

"Is she gone?" Sasuke asked, clearly referring to Tsunade.

"Yes", Naruto said, "although I should tell you..." And he proceeded to inform Sasuke about the mission he would be going on soon. Given that Sasuke was still in trouble with the elders for running off on his first actual mission outside the village, it wasn't surprising that he couldn't go immediately, but at least he should be able to join Naruto's team later on. "So, what do you think?" Naruto asked.

"Hn."

"Could you at least say something? Tomorrow I'm going to be leaving, for several months, and there's no guarantee you'll join us, and even if you do we may not get much time to..." Naruto was interrupted, for the second time that morning, by Sasuke kissing him. He pulled Naruto up from his chair and turned them around so that Naruto was leaning against his desk while Sasuke dominated his mouth. Naruto moaned into the kiss as Sasuke nudged his legs apart, pushing his own leg between Naruto's and rubbing it against Naruto's crotch.

"Do you still want me to say something?" Sasuke teased, pulling back from the kiss. Naruto didn't respond, just leaned forward, wanting Sasuke to continue kissing him. Sasuke leaned back towards Naruto, but instead of his mouth, Sasuke moved to Naruto's neck, biting and kissing hard enough to leave a large purple mark. Naruto felt rather than heard Sasuke mutter "mine" against Naruto's neck, before opening Naruto's pants and running his hand inside to stroke Naruto's cock. Naruto moaned and Sasuke caught his mouth in another demanding kiss, the pace of his hand quickening.

"Nnn, Sasuke, stop, or I'll...too soon...urgh", Naruto moaned, his words punctuated by the obscene sounds Sasuke was making sucking more possessive marks into Naruto's neck, purposely above his collar line so that they couldn't be hidden. Sasuke ignored Naruto's protests and finished him off, before wiping his hand on Naruto's Hokage cloak.

"Well, if we only have until tomorrow", Sasuke said, almost leering, "we should probably make use of the time, right?" Naruto could only nod, mind still coming down from the high, so he barely registered Sasuke stripping them both and preparing him, lifting Naruto up onto the desk and pushing the items on the desk on to the floor, as if he had done this so many times before, _which he had_, Naruto's mind supplied, before it slipped into a haze again as Sasuke entered him, setting a rapid pace.

Naruto knew he wasn't going to get any sort of verbal confirmation that Sasuke would miss him, but as he came a second time and felt Sasuke fill him with his own come, he realised that, for them, this was just as good. And given all the marks that littered Naruto's body, Sasuke assumed that everyone would know that Naruto was off-limits, which was the most important thing to the last Uchiha.

* * *

**A/N - what do you think? Please read and review.**

**Next Chapter - the shinobi arrive in Britain and more on how Sasuke and Naruto got together**


	2. 2 - The Arrival of the Shinobi

Normal Text

_Thoughts_

**_Flashback_**

**Thoughts within a flashback**

SUMMARY: Albus hires shinobi to protect Harry (and Hogwarts) during Harry's fifth year. However, Harry has a secret that not even he knows about.

WARNINGS: SasuNaru, HarryxDraco, Drarry, possibly other yaoi pairings

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or Naruto, they are the property of J. K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto respectively

* * *

Albus was sitting in his office, Severus seated opposite him, the latter having just finished relaying the message from the daimyo whom they had met two days previously. The message was that four shinobi from the hidden village within the daimyo's country would arrive tomorrow, via the agreed method – while Severus had been there retrieving this message, he had left the daimyo a portkey, which would bring the four shinobi to Hogwarts tomorrow morning. Four more shinobi should arrive at a later time, to complete the group, but two were recovering from injury, so it could be a few months. Severus had left a second portkey for them, which would activate when four people grasped it and said the word "Hogwarts" in unison. After Severus was done, Albus dismissed him, and leant back in his chair, contemplating the events of the previous day.

_**Albus approached the thick iron door, entering just in time to interrupt Minister Cornelius Fudge and announce his arrival and involvement:**_

_**"Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. Court Scribe, Percy Ignatius Weasley –"**_

_**"Witness for the defence, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore", he interrupted, causing Harry to crane his head around in order to see him striding across the room. The members of the Wizengamot were muttering from their seats above Harry and Albus, some looked annoyed and others frightened, although two elderly witches in the back raised their hands in welcome. Fudge was obviously flustered:**_

_**"Ah", said Fudge, looking thoroughly disconcerted, "Dumbledore. Yes. You – er – got our – er – message that the time and – er – place of the hearing had been changed, then?"**_

_**"I must have missed it", Albus answered cheerfully. "However, due to a lucky mistake I arrived at the Ministry three hours early, so no harm done."**_

_**"Yes – well – I suppose we'll need another chair – I – Weasley, could you –"**_

_**"Not to worry, not to worry", Albus said pleasantly, drawing his wand and conjuring a squashy chintz armchair beside Harry. He sat down and surveyed Fudge with an expression of polite interest while the Wizengamot continued to mutter and fidget restlessly, only settling when Fudge spoke:**_

_**"Yes. Well, then. So. The charges. Yes." Fudge extricated a piece of paper from the pile before him and read out the charges. Albus watched as he began questioning Harry, barely giving the young man time to respond or present his case. Madam Bones took over part of the questioning when Harry revealed he could conjure a solid Patronus, and had been able to do so for over a year **__**–**_ she was _**clearly impressed with his skill. Although, as Albus expected, Fudge was quick to refute Harry's statement that he had conjured the Patronus to ward off two Dementors, **_**likely as that would announce the lack of control the Ministry has over Azkaban prison,**_** Albus thought, **_**and the Minister can hardly announce to the Wizengamot how much control Tom has gained, especially as the Ministry is denying Tom is even alive.**

_**Albus cleared his throat, interrupting Fudge again, before announcing that he had a witness to corroborate Harry's story that there were Dementors present in the alleyway. Fudge's face seemed to slacken, and he stared down at Albus for a moment, before composing himself:**_

_**"We haven't got time to listen to more tarradiddles, I'm afraid, Dumbledore. I want this dealt with quickly –"**_

_**"I may be wrong", Albus said pleasantly, "but I am sure that under the Wizengamot Charter of Rights, the accused has the right to present witnesses for his or her case? Isn't that the policy of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Madam Bones?" he continued, addressing the witch in the monocle.**_

_**"True, perfectly true", Madam Bones responded.**_

_**"Oh, very well, very well", Fudge snapped. "Where is this person?"**_

_**"I brought her with me", Albus said. "She's just outside the door. Should I –"**_

_**"No – Weasley, you go", Fudge barked at Percy.**_

_**After that Madame Bones spent several minutes questioning Mrs Figg about her story, including asking her to describe the Dementors. While she couldn't give many details about how they looked, she could certainly record the effect they had on the people near to them, which Albus hoped would be enough for this farce of a trial. She was soon dismissed.**_

_**"Not a very convincing witness", Fudge said loftily.**_

_**"Oh, I don't know", Madam Bones said in her booming voice. "She certainly described the effects of a Dementor attack very accurately. And I can't imagine why she would say they were there if they weren't."**_

_**"But Dementors wandering into a Muggle suburb and just happening to come across a wizard?" snorted Fudge. "The odds on that must be very, very long. Even Bagman wouldn't have bet –"**_

_**"Oh, I don't think any of us believe that the Dementors were there by coincidence", Albus said lightly.**_

_**"And what is that supposed to mean?" Fudge asked icily, while the other members of the Wizengamot looked on in silence.**_

_**"It means that I think they were ordered there", Albus said.**_

_**Harry's trial then turned into an argument, with Albus stating his reasons for believing that the Dementors were under the control of someone other than the Ministry, while Fudge continued to point out that this was impossible. After a short while, the witch sitting to the right of Fudge leaned forwards, and spoke in a fluttery, girlish, high-pitched voice after Fudge recognised her:**_

_**"The Chair recognises Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister", Fudge said.**_

_**"I'm sure I must have misunderstood you, Professor Dumbledore", Umbridge spoke, with a simper in her voice. "So silly of me. But it sounded for a teensy moment as though you were suggesting that the Ministry of Magic had ordered an attack on this boy!"**_

_**"If it is true that the Dementors are taking orders only from the Ministry of Magic, and it is also true that two Dementors attacked Harry and his cousin a week ago, then it follows logically that somebody at the Ministry might have ordered the attacks", Albus said politely. "Of course these particular Dementors may have been outside Ministry control –"**_

_**"There are no Dementors outside Ministry control!" snapped Fudge.**_

_**Albus continued to point out that Harry's use of magic should not be prohibited as he was merely acting in self-defence. The trial degenerated even further when Fudge seemed to be attempting to charge Harry with the use of magic at his house by Dobby and the incident where he had blown up his aunt.**_

_**"And I haven't even started on what he gets up to at school", Fudge said.**_

_**"But, as the Ministry has no authority to punish Hogwarts students for misdemeanours at school, Harry's behaviour there is not relevant to this hearing", Albus responded politely.**_

_**"Oho!" Fudge said. "Not our business what he does at school, eh? You think so?"**_

_**Albus had noticed the venom behind those words, as well as their implication for the coming school year, but he ignored it, rather pointing out that, for now at least, the Ministry could not do anything to Harry. He asked for the verdict, hoping to put a stop to any further side-tracking or evasions that may result in a guilty verdict, and, as he expected, Harry was voted not guilty, although both Fudge and Umbridge voted to expel him.**_

_**"Very well, very well...cleared of all charges", Fudge stated, his voice distorted by suppressed rage.**_

_**"Excellent", Dumbledore said briskly. "Well, I must be getting along. Good day to you all." And with that he swept from the dungeon.**_

Albus sat in his office. He knew that the new teacher for Defence Against the Dark Arts was going to be Dolores Umbridge – he hadn't been able to find anyone else willing to take on the position, and he could not give the position to Severus, especially given the teacher's status as a double spy for himself and Tom. At least the ninjas would arrive tomorrow, and then the students the day after that, along with Dolores Umbridge. With any luck, Albus thought, the ninjas will put her in her place and prevent anything to bad from happening, although I'm not sure how much they will want to get involved with the politics here.

* * *

It was a bright morning in Konoha, although a dark-haired young man was in a mood which was not improved by this weather.

"Come on, teme, you knew I was going today." Sasuke ignored him, he was way too cheerful, and Sasuke wanted to remain in his bad mood. Naruto kept babbling on about cultural links, but Sasuke just ignored him, sitting on the couch in Naruto's apartment. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, when he suddenly felt a weight drop into his lap. He opened his eyes to see Naruto straddling him, one knee on either side of Sasuke, and most of his weight across Sasuke's lap. He put his arms around Sasuke's neck and pulled him towards him.

"What?" Sasuke asked, trying to sound annoyed, but failing slightly due to Naruto edging forwards so that their crotches were dangerously close.

"I have a bit of time, you know? We could always say goodbye again, not that last night wasn't amazing", Naruto said, blush creeping across his face as he shifted on Sasuke's lap so that Sasuke felt the growing hardness between Naruto's legs.

"I thought you had to leave at a specific time? You can't just be late, right?" Sasuke said, voice breaking slightly as Naruto rubbed himself against Sasuke again.

"I won't be late, not if we're quick. Please?" Naruto said, looking up at Sasuke through his eyelashes, looking so innocent Sasuke couldn't resist him. He pulled Naruto's legs around his waist and carried him into the bedroom, throwing the blond dobe onto his bed and then moving on top of him, pressing Naruto down into the mattress beneath him as he ground their hardnesses together through the fabric of their clothes.

"Less clothes", Naruto managed to force out between the moans, as Sasuke continued to rub against Naruto. Sasuke quickly divested Naruto of his clothes, before leaning down to redo the marks on Naruto's neck. The various hickeys that marked Naruto as belonging to Sasuke were still there, as Sasuke had left several there since finding out that Naruto would be leaving for a while, but he decided to leave even more, and suck on the fading ones to redarken them.

"Better?" Sasuke whispered in Naruto's ear, still rubbing against him.

"You...less clothes...you too", Naruto stuttered out, pleasure clouding his mind. Sasuke was going to hold out a little longer, but when he pulled back to look at Naruto, debauched, naked, aroused, and covered in hickeys, he couldn't hold himself back any longer. He quickly stripped, then leaned down to take Naruto's cock in his mouth, his fingers trailing back.

"Looks like your still open from last night", Sasuke said, smirking against Naruto's thigh.

"Then stop wasting time", Naruto gasped. Sasuke smirked again at his dobe's impatience, before moving back up Naruto's body and entering him. He moved slowly in and out, as Naruto wrapped his legs around Sasuke's waist and tried to encourage him to speed up.

"Nngh, faster, Sasuke, please", Naruto moaned. Sasuke considered ignoring him, but again was swayed by Naruto's debauched appearance into complying, and sped up his thrusts. Naruto came not long after, Sasuke following him. He pulled out and dropped down to the bed beside Naruto.

They lay there, Naruto cuddling into Sasuke, waiting for their breathing to even out.

"What time do you leave?" Sasuke said, smirking – _I already know they leave at 11 and were going to meet at 10.30, and it's 10.28 now_, he thought. Naruto looked up at him, then at the clock.

"Oh, crap!" Naruto swore, wiping himself off with the tissues he kept beside his bed and dressing himself hurriedly.

"You said you had time", Sasuke said, grinning inwardly. _Perhaps if he's too late he won't be able to go, and then I can keep him here, and have him all to myself_.

"Not that much time!" Naruto said, pulling on his cloak and hat and grabbing the bag he had packed the previous night. He glanced at the clock – 10.41, he was already late – before running through the apartment. Sasuke was behind him in a flash, as if he had teleported there, and pulled Naruto back against him, turning Naruto's head towards him so that Sasuke could kiss him. He kissed Naruto deeply, conveying his goodbye wordlessly – _they had always been good at knowing each other's thoughts_ Sasuke thought to himself briefly.

"I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah, I'm sure you can join us. Just behave until then?" Naruto said, slightly breathless.

"Hn", was the only reply Sasuke gave before Naruto ran out of the apartment, rapidly making his way through the village to the Hokage tower. In Naruto's apartment, Sasuke smirked as he realised that, while the dobe would get there in time to leave, he would still be late, and would be dishevelled when he did arrive. He thought about Naruto's last comment about behaving himself, and knew that it wouldn't be easy – the elders wanted an excuse to get rid of him, and the first mission – above D-rank – that he had been on since returning to the village hadn't exactly ended well. Although, it was probably his own fault, but he knew that Naruto was in trouble. Sasuke had known for some time that he had feelings for Naruto, but he always pushed them down, his revenge was more important. Even at that crucial point, when he almost chose Naruto over power and revenge...

_**"Chidori!"**_

_**"Rasengan!"**_

_**They jumped towards one another, Sasuke's chidori black as he used the wings that formed part of his level 2 curse mark to fly towards Naruto. Naruto was surrounded by red chakra, as the demon fox inside him leant his power to help Naruto force Sasuke back to the village, to prevent him from betraying Konoha and going to Orochimaru.**_

_**They collided and their chakras combined, surrounding them in a massive sphere of energy that quickly turned purple. Sasuke punched Naruto in the chest, as Naruto scratched Sasuke's headband, proving wrong Sasuke's earlier statement that Naruto would be unable to scratch it. The purple sphere of chakra increased, growing larger as the water in the waterfall in the Valley of the End tumbled down behind. The sphere of chakra turned black and continued to expand, now so big that the waterfall was falling over it, and the cliffs at either side were being crumbled away. Lightning crackled overhead as water exploded upwards from the force of the expanding combination of Sasuke and Naruto's chakra. White lines proceeded from the centre to cover the sphere, and it began turning white as well. Sasuke and Naruto were suspended inside, still glaring at one another, as everything went white.**_

_**Naruto lay unconscious on the floor as the clouds blocked off the last bit of sunlight, concentrating the last beam of light onto Naruto's face, before the light completely disappeared. Sasuke looked down at him as his scratched headband fell to the floor. **_**Why did it have to be the dobe?**_**he thought. **_**Anyone else, but now...no, I have to leave to ensure I get my revenge, despite what I feel...I have to sever this bond****.**

_**"Naruto..." Sasuke said. "I..." Sasuke looked up as the rain started to fall on them. Naruto was unconscious before him, and Sasuke was about to leave, knowing someone would find him, when he collapsed to his knees, the exertion from his battle with Naruto catching up to him. When he forced his eyes open as the pain began to recede, he found himself staring at Naruto's closed eyes. **_**I know I have to break this bond****,**_** he thought, **_**but just once couldn't hurt, right? I can still leave after, it doesn't change anything. **_**He leaned forward and pressed his lips against Naruto's, just briefly. For a moment, he swore he could fell Naruto press up against him, as the rain continued to pour down over them. He knew he was mistaken, Naruto was unconscious, and would obviously have pushed him away if he had been awake.**_

As Sasuke cleaned and dressed himself in Naruto's apartment, he remembered those events from the Valley of the End. Sometimes he wanted to ask Naruto if he really was awake, if he had known Sasuke's feelings all that time, but he couldn't. _If Naruto hadn't been awake,_ Sasuke thought, _then me asking him would be the same as saying, 'oh, by the way, I left Konoha even though I had feelings for you', and I can't do that_. Sasuke left Naruto's apartment, heading for the Hokage tower. Tsunade had asked to see him around 12, _likely as I'm in some sort of trouble with the elders again_, Sasuke thought, _I know I should expect it, but it's been months now since I came back, I'm not on probation anymore, and I only ran off that time to help Naruto and the village._ Sasuke continued to walk through the village, thinking about Naruto, who was now on the other side of the world.

* * *

The fog cleared to reveal four shinobi standing before the entrance of Hogwarts. The staff assembled there to meet them were Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, Hagrid and Madame Pomfrey. Albus quietly observed the four people in front of him. Three were no more than children, presumably deferring to the older man, although he could be no more than in his late twenties to early thirties. His face was almost completely covered, leaving only one eye visible, although his silver hair could be seen above his headband. The covering over his face appeared to be part of his shirt, which was long-sleeved and dark blue, with a spiral symbol on the left upper arm. He was also wearing dark blue trousers, with a pouch attached to his right leg with bandages. Over the top was a khaki flak jacket with several pockets, and he had fingerless gloves on his hands. Of the three children, there were two boys and a girl. The girl wore a white shirt with a burgundy stripe and burgundy trousers. Her brown hair was up in two buns with some falling over her headband, and she also wore fingerless gloves, hers stretching partly over her fingers. On her back was what appeared to be a large scroll. The elder of the two boys had long dark hair, with a tie towards the bottom keeping it from being completely free-flowing. He was wearing a white shirt closed on the right shoulder and white trousers with a grey apron-like piece of clothing over top. The other boy, the youngest of the four, who looked like he was barely the same age as Harry, had wild blond hair and scars on his face that looked like whisker marks. He was wearing an orange shirt and black trousers, with a white robe over the top, and looked much more in authority than he should, given his age.

Albus stood there observing the four in that way, forming several conclusions about shinobi and their society, mostly the one that Madame Pomfrey voiced for him:

"Merlin, these are the ninjas?! They're way too young to be protecting the school, there are probably kids here that are older than three of them are, and the older man looks completely disinterested!" Madame Pomfrey voiced, trying to keep her voice low so that the shinobi wouldn't hear her. The youngest of the four stepped forward:

"Hi, my name is Uzumaki Naruto, and this is Hyuga Neji, Hatake Kakashi and Tenten. We're here to protect this school", he announced cheerfully, speaking English well. "Oh, and we used our abilities to let us speak and understand your language so we wouldn't have to learn it once we arrived."

The wizards stood there for a moment, before Albus stepped forward:

"Hello, I am Albus Dumbledore, your employer, and these are some of the staff members of the school. If you would follow me, I will show you to what will be your quarters for the duration of your stay. I am afraid we put you all in together –" he glanced at Tenten "– as we didn't know your team would be mixed."

"That's fine", Tenten said, "I'm sure I can put up with sharing with them."

Albus considered this for a moment, thinking it odd that she would be so okay with sharing with three guys, especially one who was clearly at least 10 years older than her. He soon shrugged it off, however, realising that things must just be done differently in the shinobi world, even if he didn't think it was particularly appropriate.

"Very well", Albus said, "follow me." He led the four shinobi past the other staff members and through the castle.

"Well", Madame Pomfrey said after a brief pause. "That was...different. They're so young, and one is a girl who seems to have no problem sharing with boys. How strange." Professor McGonagall voiced her agreement, before both women headed off into the castle. Hagrid shrugged and left to return to his cabin. Professor Snape quietly took in the information, as he knew he would have to make a report to the Dark Lord concerning the arrival of the shinobi. Unlike Albus, he knew a certain amount about the shinobi world; regardless, he could still easily recognise that all four of them were highly skilled, despite their age, and the young man who spoke clearly held the respect of the other three. However, he knew he could pass on Albus' thoughts to the Dark Lord, and merely inform the dark wizard that three of the shinobi were children and their leader seemed disinterested – perhaps he could suggest that the shinobi appeared to be treating it like some sort of training exercise for later cultural links, and that the silver-haired man had been ordered to come but actually had little interest in such matters. This was what Severus was thinking to himself as he returned to his quarters, knowing that the Dark Lord would likely summon him that evening.

* * *

Naruto, Kakashi, Neji and Tenten were seated around a small table in the shared area of their quarters. The shared area was a large open space. In the middle of one wall was a large fireplace, with two couches and two armchairs positioned around it. Behind this was the table at which they were seated, with a large window on the wall to the side, which overlooked the courtyard area in the middle of the school, although they discovered the window had been charmed so that no-one could see in from the outside. On the other side of the shared area, was a small kitchen, where some meals could be prepared, although they had been informed that they could call a house elf if they wanted anything. Between this was the entrance. In the middle of the wall at the back was a small corridor, with four small bedrooms leading off of it, and a large bathroom at the end, with two showers, two toilet cubicles, and two sinks. Each of the bedrooms had two beds in it – the wizards clearly hoping the other four shinobi to arrive soon after them – as well as two chests of drawers and a nightstand beside each bed.

"I don't understand, though", Tenten was saying, "what is the problem with us sharing when we all have our own rooms, at least until the others arrive? I know we have to share a bathroom, but still."

"Maybe they're just more prudish than we're used to", Kakashi offered, nose buried in one of his books.

"Well, definitely more than you're used to Kakashi-sensei, and the same for anyone who's had a pervy teacher", Naruto said, face falling for a moment when he remembered ero-sannin, but quickly recovering.

"How can you call me a pervert, Naruto-kun?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, it's completely unfounded", Naruto muttered, not quietly. "And stop calling me kun!" he added, "especially now I'm Hokage!"

"Whatever you say, Hokage-kun", Kakashi responded, _probably smirking beneath that mask_, Naruto thought.

"Perhaps we can consider more important matters, Naruto-sama, Kakashi-san", Neji said.

"Ok", Naruto answered, while Kakashi just jerked his head and turned another page in his book. "Right", Naruto continued, "I think we should patrol the school in pairs, two of us during the day and the other two at night, making sure there are no problems or attacks. While one pair is on patrol, the other can rest. Also, while we're here, we should try to learn more about wizards and magic."

"We should probably also try to learn about British culture", Neji added.

"Why?" Tenten asked. "It's not like it will help us fight their enemies, unlike learning about their powers."

"It might be useful to know more about the political and cultural world here, just in case. I went for a walk around the castle earlier, to familiarise myself with the building, and several of the staff members seem agitated about a new teacher here, who is apparently to teach the students how to defend themselves against attacks", Neji reasoned.

"Well, I'm not really all that good at that stuff", Naruto said, scratching his head with one finger in contemplation, "but I guess you must be, Neji-san?"

"I am reasonably well-versed in such matters thanks to my clan duties."

"Ok, well, why don't you try to learn more about that and Kakashi can read about their powers?"

"Huh?" Kakashi said, looking up from his book, "why me?"

"Because", Naruto answered, "not only did you tell us that you could speak and read English already, when the rest of us used the jutsu before leaving –"

"You mean when you turned up late and dishevelled?" Kakashi interrupted.

"No – I – well, yes, technically – that's not the point!" Naruto stuttered, his face turning a bright shade of red. "You can read their books, especially the ones they use for classes, and quickly as well if you use the Sharingan."

"Alright, then."

"What about the pairs, Naruto-sama?" Tenten asked.

"Well, how about I go with Neji and you go with Kakashi?" Naruto answered her. "It makes sense to not put the two of them together as they will both be learning about the wizards, and this way they can discuss it with us without distracting the other, at least at first."

"Is he going to make pervy comments at me?", Tenten asked, hiding her mouth behind her hand and turning to Naruto, although she purposely spoke loud enough for Kakashi to be able to hear her.

"You never know, you may start to like it", Kakashi said.

"I wonder what your books would look like full of senbons and kunai?" Tenten countered. Kakashi didn't respond, but did move the book he was reading closer to his body, as if to protect it.

"You're definitely going with him now", Naruto said to her. "Ok then, me and Neji will do day patrol, as then anything we overhear from the wizards will help us learn about their world, and you two can do night patrol, and Kakashi can read books from the library while patrolling. The students arrive tomorrow evening, and we should all be there for that, then when they go to their quarters, Kakashi and Tenten can take over and we can sleep, then switch, and so on."

"Yes, Naruto-sama", Neji and Tenten responded. Kakashi just waved his hand and continued reading.

"Well, for now I am going to get some rest, that pot-a-key thingy –"

"Portkey", Neji supplied.

"Yeah, that, has left me kind of tired. 'Night."

"Goodnight Naruto-sama", Neji and Tenten spoke again, while Kakashi made no effort to acknowledge him as Naruto returned to his room to sleep. Neji also retired not long after, as did Tenten, leaving Kakashi sitting at the table, muttering to himself about book protection.

* * *

**A/N - Please read and review**

**Next Chapter - the students arrive at the school, issues with Umbridge and HarryxDraco**


	3. 3 - The School Year Starts

Normal Text

_Thoughts_

**_Flashback_**

**Thoughts within a flashback**

SUMMARY: Albus hires shinobi to protect Harry (and Hogwarts) during Harry's fifth year. However, Harry has a secret that not even he knows about.

WARNINGS: SasuNaru, HarryxDraco, Drarry, possibly other yaoi pairings

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or Naruto, they are the property of J. K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto respectively

**A/N - Thanks to everyone who favourited and/or followed this story and/or me, and to the reviews **

* * *

The four shinobi spent most of the day resting and acclimatising themselves to autumn Scottish weather. The students were due to arrive that evening, so they ate early on in order to ensure that they would be well-prepared when the students arrived. Naruto decided to do the same thing as Neji had previously, and take a walk around the school to get his bearings, once he had eaten. He wandered in and out of various classrooms around the school, trying to get an idea of where the students would be during their school time. _Perhaps we should ask for some sort of map, _he mused to himself, _so that we know which classrooms are used, as some of them seem empty even though the year is about to start_. He reached a door which was slightly ajar, and went inside. There was no-one in the room but it was clearly intended to be used that year, as there were desks set up, although for what subject Naruto had no idea. Towards the back was a staircase, which Naruto went up. He knocked on the door, then entered. This room was also empty of people, but much more decorated.

He looked around the room slowly, trying to take it all in, while simultaneously trying to avoid blinding himself from the amount of pink. The walls were pink and there were pictures of cats on the walls that moved slightly. He was lost in his thoughts of what sort of subject a professor like this would be teaching, when he heard the door of the classroom below him being closed. He moved out into the classroom to see a short, plump woman with dark curly hair, who was dressed entirely in pink. _She looks way too neat and proper to be teaching anything active_, Naruto thought to himself, _although I suppose we don't know that much about wizards and their customs and culture yet._

"What are you doing in here?" she asked, in a high-pitched simpering voice that would have made Naruto wince were he not a highly-trained shinobi.

"Er, sorry, the door was open and I was just taking a look around, trying to learn where everything is, you know?" Naruto answered, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.

"You are one of those ninjas Professor Dumbledore informed us of at the staff meeting earlier, aren't you?" she asked, in the same voice, but with an undertone that suggested she was accusing him of something.

"Yeah, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, who are you?"

"I am Professor Umbridge, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher", she replied in her simpering voice. "And this is my classroom. In future, I would appreciate it if you would kindly knock prior to entering, especially considering you just emerged from my office, which is private, and it isn't very polite to enter without knocking first, is it? Furthermore, you should not ask about my identity so impolitely, now should you dear?"

"Sorry, professor", Naruto said sheepishly, "I didn't know what was back here, and I was just looking." He came down the stairs and moved past her to the door, noticing that she tensed up slightly as he passed her, even though he didn't actually touch her. "I guess I'll see you later at the Welcoming Feast?"

"Well, of course", Umbridge answered, giving a small smile, although still looking as if she was actually frightened of him. Naruto left the classroom, wondering if this was the new teacher that Neji had noticed arriving the previous night, when he had gone around the school while the other three settled into their quarters – Neji had said something about there being a new teacher, possibly unwelcome, who was to teach defensive magic. _She doesn't look like she should be teaching anything like that,_ Naruto thought, _after all, surely that would involve moving around and casting spells and other magic stuff, and she looks too neat and tidy, like she wouldn't want to do that stuff in case she got a bit of dirt on her clothes. Oh well, I guess I'll find out when classes start, I'll just make sure to wander past the classroom while she's teaching._

* * *

The four shinobi were standing in the Great Hall, spaced out around the room and standing against the walls, using genjutsu to obscure themselves from the wizards' vision. They watched as the majority of the students entered, having been told that the new first years would arrive later than the older students. The students all took their seats on one of four long tables.

Kakashi was standing at the back, to one side of the large doors, looking towards the table of red and gold where their main charge was to be seated. The other three tables were similarly decorated, but each in different colours. He had found out from some basic reading in the library earlier that there were four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, named after each of the four founders of the school. The students were sorted, based on their personality, into one of the four houses, and would share dormitories, a common room, mealtimes and classes with these students for the seven years that they would spend at the school. There was some deal of rivalry between the four houses, especially between Gryffindor and Slytherin. From his current observations, it would seem that the Slytherins had some amount of money, as most appeared to be wearing newer robes than the others, and had an air of arrogance that Kakashi believed was associated with nobles who deemed themselves above their peers – _based on a casual observation, their arrogance doesn't seem to be justified, _he thought, _as they don't seem to be especially powerful, and certainly no more so than the other houses. Probably just based on birth or nobility, then._

He saw several young people enter, one of whom fit the description they had received of Harry Potter, their main charge for this year – although they were nominally protection for the whole school, Harry would apparently be the one targeted by the evil wizard who was the enemy of Dumbledore, their employer.

Kakashi silently observed the conversations going on around the hall, until the new first years entered. At this the chatter slowly faded, as the new students lined up in front of the staff members. Professor McGonagall placed a stool in front of them, and then put a hat on the stall. Kakashi watched with interest as the rip near the hat's brim opened and the hat burst into song:

In times of old, when I was new,  
And Hogwarts barely started,  
The founders of our noble school  
Thought never to be parted.

United by a common goal,  
They had the selfsame yearning  
To make the world's best magic school  
And pass along their learning.

"Together we will build and teach"  
The four good friends decided.  
And never did they dream that they  
Might some day be divided.

For were there such friends anywhere  
As Slytherin and Gryffindor?  
Unless it was the second pair  
Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw,

So how could it have gone so wrong?  
How could such friendships fail?  
Why, I was there, so I can tell  
The whole sad, sorry tale.

Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those  
Whose ancestry's purest."  
Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose  
Intelligence is surest."

Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those  
With brave deeds to their name."  
Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot  
And treat them just the same."

These differences caused little strife  
When first they came to light.  
For each of the four founders had  
A house in which they might

Take only those they wanted, so,  
For instance, Slytherin  
Took only pure-blood wizards  
Of great cunning just like him.

And only those of sharpest mind  
Were taught by Ravenclaw  
While the bravest and the boldest  
Went to daring Gryffindor.

Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest  
And taught them all she knew,  
Thus, the houses and their founders  
Maintained friendships firm and true.

So Hogwarts worked in harmony  
For several happy years,  
But then discord crept among us  
Feeding on our faults and fears.

The Houses that, like pillars four  
Had once held up our school  
Now turned upon each other and  
Divided, sought to rule.

And for a while it seemed the school  
Must meet an early end.  
What with duelling and with fighting  
And the clash of friend on friend.

And at last there came a morning  
When old Slytherin departed  
And though the fighting then died out  
He left us quite downhearted.

And never since the founders four  
Were whittled down to three  
Have the Houses been united  
As they once were meant to be.

And now the Sorting Hat is here  
And you all know the score:  
I sort you into Houses  
Because that is what I'm for.

But this year I'll go further,  
Listen closely to my song:  
Though condemned I am to split you  
Still I worry that it's wrong,

Though I must fulfil my duty  
And must quarter every year  
Still I wonder whether sorting  
May not bring the end I fear.

Oh, know the perils, read the signs,  
The warning history shows,  
For our Hogwarts is in danger  
From external, deadly foes

And we must unite inside her  
Or we'll crumble from within  
I have told you, I have warned you...  
Let the Sorting now begin.

Kakashi thought to himself that it was interesting how the hat seemed to be aware of outside events, and even appeared to be commenting on the political situation. The hat must possess some level of intelligence to be talking and singins, as well as reading the personalities and minds of the students, so perhaps it overheard these things, or was told them. All of the shinobi had observed, upon their first arrival, that the portraits and paintings scattered around the school were not inanimate. Even the entrance to their quarters was guarded by a portrait of a young witch, apparently long-dead, who required their password to allow them access. The group of new students was slowly sorted into the four houses, roughly evenly. After this, Dumbledore stood:

"To our newcomers", the Headmaster said, in a ringing voice, his arms stretched wide and a beaming smile on his lips, "welcome! To our old hands – welcome back! There is a time for speech-making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"

He was answered by appreciative laughter and a round of applause, as food appeared on the five tables. Kakashi moved along the wall so that he was stood closer to Harry and his friends, who appeared to be discussing the message the hat had given with a ghost who had floated in earlier.

"Oh, yes", the ghost was saying, "Yes, I have heard the hat give several warnings before, always at times when it detects periods of great danger for the school. And always, of course, its advice is the same: stand together, be strong from within."

"Ow kunnit nofe skusin danger ifzat", the redheaded boy said around a mouthful of food.

"I beg your pardon?" the ghost asked.

"How can it know the school's in danger if it's a hat?" the young man repeated, after swallowing his food.

"I have no idea", the ghost answered. "Of course, it lives in Dumbledore's office, so I daresay it picks up things there."

That answered Kakashi's question: the hat must learn things from its vantage point in Dumbledore's office, enough to know when to offer warnings. He continued to mull this information over in his mind, while opening a pocket of his jacket and taking out a book, opening and reading while paying vague attention to the continuing conversation.

Tenten looked at Kakashi from the other side of the hall, suppressing a sigh when she saw him get out another of his books. She realised that she'd have to get used to this, as she would be patrolling with him. The conversations she'd been observing were of little use to their mission, so she hoped that at least one of the other two had something useful, _after all, _she thought, _Kakashi definitely isn't paying any attention._

She looked, with the students, to the staff table, when she heard Dumbledore begin speaking again. He made a few announcements, that the forest beyond the school was off-limits and magic between classes was not permitted, before announcing faculty changes, including the short woman seated beside him, whom Naruto had told the three of them about while they were on their way to the Great Hall before the students arrived. However, in the middle of the next announcement, Dumbledore was interrupted by the woman clearing her throat in a clearly forced manner, demanding attention. Dumbledore seceded to her, which, based on the reactions of the students and other staff members, was very unusual.

"Thank you, Headmaster," she simpered, "for your kind words of welcome." _Her voice was just as annoying as Naruto told us, _Tenten thought. The woman gave another little throat-clearing cough and continued: "Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say! And to see such happy little faces looking up at me! I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all and I'm sure we'll be very good friends!" She cleared her throat again before continuing with her speech, although, as Tenten glanced around the hall, few people seemed to really be listening to her long, arduous words. She hoped that one of the others was listening, as she couldn't really understand why this woman felt the need to tell the students how their education was important, and how changes should be made.

Across the hall, Kakashi was paying closer attention that Tenten thought, but more to the reaction of Harry and his group of friends than the actual speech, as he realised that this would allow him to easier assess the situation.

"Yes, it certainly was illuminating", the bushy haired girl said in a low voice. At the surprise voiced by the redheaded boy, she continued: "There was some important stuff hidden in the waffle – the Ministry's interfering at Hogwarts."

"One last announcement, before you all retire for the night", Albus began, drawing everyone's attention. "I have made my views clear concerning the danger threatening us, and, in order to help protect the school, I have hired four ninjas to assist me in this endeavour. I am certain that you will see them around the school as they go about their business, and I expect four more to arrive at some later point in the school year. They have been present through this entire meal so far, if you wouldn't mind...?" The four shinobi jumped in front of the staff table, their backs to the staff, removing the genjutsu as they did so. "Thank you. Now, I am sure you will be seeing them patrolling as you go about your business, and I encourage you to discuss with them the danger which they are here to protect against. That is all. Goodnight."

_So, _Kakashi thought to himself, _it appears that the government refuses to admit the truth – that this Voldemort-dono is alive and a threat. But by suggesting that the students ask us...we will be hounded by questions, and we can't avoid all the students as we are here to protect them. We'll have to discuss some sort of stock answer to give them...oh well, at least I have the night shift. Naruto and Neji can deal with all those questions._

Everyone in the Great Hall was beginning to move, realising that Dumbledore had dismissed them all, although many were gaping at the four shinobi, still stood in front of the staff table, watching everyone return to their common rooms. The four shinobi had earlier agreed to follow one house each back to their area so that they would know where all four houses were based. They would then regroup at their own quarters and Neji and Naruto would then retire to bed, while Tenten and Kakashi began their night patrol. As the students began to leave, the four of them put up another genjutsu, so that they could follow the students while still appearing to be in the Great Hall. Kakashi followed the Slytherins down into the dungeon area, while Naruto followed the Gryffindors, Tenten the Hufflepuffs and Neji the Ravenclaws. After the Great Hall had emptied of students, and the staff looked towards the shinobi still stood in front of them, the genjutsu released, and the shinobi seemed to just disappear.

"Well, they must have gone to bed also", Albus said cheerfully. "I think I'll do the same."

When the shinobi regrouped in their own quarters, Kakashi briefly recounted to the others what he had overheard from Harry and his friends. Tenten was surprised – _he had actually been listening?_ she thought to herself._ But he seemed to be doing nothing but reading those perverted books of his!_

"Well," Neji said, "it would appear that certain people in the government do not want the existence of this dark wizard Voldemort to be believed, and are interfering at this school in order to propagate their beliefs. This may lead to us being drawn into a tricky political situation. We should be careful, especially if we are likely to be stopped and questioned in the corridors."

"I agree", Naruto said, "but for now we should just continue with our patrols. If we end up getting drawn into political issues, we can always claim ignorance of their culture as a reason for our lack of knowledge, and point out that our mission is to protect Hogwarts, which is clearly not under the control of the Ministry, or at least it's not supposed to be." Naruto yawned widely. "Well, I'm off to bed. 'Night."

The other three watched him leave the shared area, retiring to his own quarters. Neji then also bid the two of them goodnight before retiring also.

"You know," Tenten began, voicing her thoughts, "he's only been Hokage a couple of months, but he's already shaping up to be a pretty good political leader. I never would have thought he'd be so good at that sort of thing."

"Yeah, he can surprise you with stuff like that", Kakashi agreed. The two of them then left. The four of them had discussed earlier that day how best to go about their patrols. They had decided that each of the pair should make a shadow clone to go with the other, so that there would be two pairs on patrol at one time, each consisting of a real and a clone shinobi, until Tsunade sent on the other four whom she had planned to send. Kakashi and Tenten both made shadow clones, then split off in different directions, the real Kakashi going to the library while the clone Tenten patrolled the nearby area, and the real Tenten and clone Kakashi going to patrol the rest of the castle.

* * *

Harry lay in his bed, listening to the breathing of the others around him. After his argument with Seamus, who didn't believe him about Voldemort's return, he had settled on his bed, while Dean and Neville stated that they believed in Harry and that Voldemort was back. Ron shut Seamus up by reminding the latter that he was a prefect now, and Seamus had gone to bed, pulling closed the curtains around his bed. The others had soon retired as well, while Harry lay there, pretending to be falling asleep. After Ron started snoring in the bed beside him, he realised it was late enough. He quietly slipped out of bed, put on his shoes, and grabbed his wand, a seemingly innocent piece of parchment and his cloak, then went down into the Gryffindor common room. He picked up the parchment, tapped it with his wand, and stated:

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The parchment then revealed its true nature as a map of the school with the locations of the people within it marked clearly, Harry folded the map to show only the area between Gryffindor Tower and the seventh floor corridor, then pulled on his Invisibility Cloak and left the common room. He walked through the corridors as silently but as quickly as possible, heading towards his destination. Fortunately, the teachers didn't seem to be in this area tonight. However, as he approached his destination, he noticed two names moving ahead of him: Hatake Kakashi and Tenten. _Those must be two of the ninjas, _Harry thought to himself, _they shouldn't be able to see me under the cloak though._ To be certain, he moved up against the wall, so that they wouldn't bump into him, and quieted his breathing so that he was making as little noise as possible.

A moment later, two figures that he remembered from earlier that evening came around the corner. One was the girl that had been there, the other the silver-haired man whom Harry assumed to be in charge of them. They walked past, the man reading a book and seemingly paying little attention to what was going on around him, while the girl looked at the portraits along the walls with some level of interest. Within a few moments they had passed Harry, apparently not noticing his presence. He waited for a moment longer, to make sure they were out of sight, and checked on the map that they weren't going to double back, and that no-one else was around. Satisfied that he was alone, he continued, a little more rapidly. He soon reached an apparently empty corridor, and walked back and forth a few times, until a door appeared. He went in, removing the cloak and looking around.

The room wasn't very elaborately decorated or furnished, or even that large, but was comfortable. Towards the back of the room were a few bookcases, with books which were useful to learning Defence Against the Dark Arts, if probably not allowed in Hogwarts, as some also ave information on the Dark Arts themselves. _Although, _Harry thought, _I will need to know what the enemy is going to do, and it's not like anything we learn in school is going to help me fight Voldemort, after all, it didn't save Cedric..._ There was a table and chairs close to the bookcases, which was useful for doing schoolwork and research, as well as an open area with some practice dummies for practising some of the spells that were in the books. On the other side there was a fireplace, with the fire already going, with two armchairs facing it, and a couch in between them, on which was currently reclined a young man. He had blond, almost-white hair and an air of haughtiness about him, despite his seemingly relaxed position half-lying on the couch. As Harry put his map inside the folds of his cloak and draped it over the back of one of the armchairs, grey eyes looked up at him.

"I got here first then", the young man said, somewhat arrogantly, although Harry could easily detect the emotions hidden beneath the apparent arrogance.

"I missed you too Draco", Harry said teasingly. Draco continued to look at him, not moving to allow Harry to sit down on the couch. Harry sighed: "Two of the ninjas walked past me, so I had to stop for a while. And I had to wait to make sure everyone was asleep." Draco moved to sit up, Harry having answered his unasked question.

"Did they notice you were there?" Draco asked.

"The ninjas? No, I don't think so, but they didn't seem to be paying that much attention, one was reading and the other was looking at all the portraits", Harry replied, sitting down beside Draco. After a moment of silence he put his head on Draco's shoulder and sighed. Draco wrapped an arm around Harry's waist, causing the dark-haired young man to snuggle closer to him.

"How bad was it all?" Draco asked after a moment of silence. Harry thought back:

_**The sky, which a moment ago had been indigo and filled with stars, was now pitch black, the moon and stars have been blotted out. Even the streetlamps were dark. The distant noise of cars was gone as well, and the summer evening was now bitingly cold. Dudley and Harry were surrounded by total, impenetrable, silent darkness. For a moment Harry thought that he had done it himself, accidental magic at his cousin's taunting – Harry had had a nightmare the previous night, about Cedric's death, and was moaning in his sleep.**_

_**"W-what are you d-doing? St-stop it!" Dudley said, terrified.**_

_**"I'm not doing anything! Shut up and don't move!"**_

_**"I c-can't see! I've g-gone blind! I –"**_

_**Harry stood completely still, turning left and right, even though he knew that he couldn't see or hear didn't think it was possible, that they would be here in Little Whinging.**_

_**"I'll tell Dad!" Dudley whimpered. "W-where are you? What are you d-do–"**_

_**"Will you shut up?" Harry hissed. "I'm trying to lis–" He broke off, having just heard the thing that he was dreading – something was drawing long, hoarse, rattling breaths. Before he could act, Dudley hit him, trying to escape from what he believed was Harry's magic. He tried to get Dudley to stop, sensing the Dementor in that direction, as he felt around on the floor for his wand. In desperation he said "Lumos" and it worked, the wand tip ignited, in time for him to see a towering, hooded figure gliding towards him. He grabbed his wand and tried twice to conjure his Patronus, both times only producing silvery wisps of vapour. As the Dementor got closer, he fought for breath, remembering the faces of his friends – and that worked. He conjured a Patronus and used it to ward off both the Dementor attacking him and the one going after Dudley, who was curled up on the ground, whimpering and shaking. As Harry bent to check on him, Mrs Figg arrived, and led them both away from the alleyway.**_

"I'm not sure how much I thought that I would really be expelled, after all, Dumbledore wouldn't let that happen," Harry said to Draco. "But it was a bit creepy having to sit in front of them all like I was being accused of something like murder, especially as Fudge would barely listen to me about the Dementors."

"I'm glad you're okay, and that you're still here", Draco said quietly.

"Were you worried about me?" Harry teased, moving slightly away to look at Draco, who sighed before responding:

"You know how close my father, and in fact my entire family are, to _him_. So I spent most of my summer hearing all this crap about you, and having to agree with them that you're the enemy. I didn't have a choice. And when you had your hearing, my father went to meet with Fudge about something, and came back to tell us that you weren't going to be expelled, and I – well, I didn't know what I could say that would have been appropriate to my apparent allegiance, especially given that I was actually glad that I wasn't going to..."

"Lose me?" Harry teased again.

"Don't joke, not when it could have happened."

"Sorry", Harry said, leaning back in and snuggling close to Draco again. "I don't know what you could have said or done either. I guess we both have a lot to deal with outside of school, as well as inside it."

They sat in front of the fire like that for a few moments longer, before Harry noticed:

"When you thought up this room, you included the books and practice area, did you want to do anything tonight?"

"No," Draco answered, "I just thought about our usual room. I would much rather just get used to you still being here, and safe, at least for now. At least with those shinobi here you're better protected, even if you do hate other people helping you."

After that, the two of them didn't speak, just sitting in front of the roaring fire curled up around one another. Harry thought to himself how this person was once his worst enemy, and now they were together, even if their relationship was secret from everyone. Yet a year ago, it had been so much different...

_**The Hogwarts train slowly moved out of the platform, drowning out Harry, Ron, Fred and George's shouts towards Charlie, Bill and Mrs Weasley, who were standing on the platform, having made cryptic remarks about rules and coming to watch a bit of it – and ignoring all the questions about what it was. After a while, Draco**__** appeared in the doorway uninvited and insulted Ron's dress robes, which were hanging out of his luggage slightly.**_

_**After this they thought Draco would leave, but he stuck around, clearly knowing what the three Weasleys were talking about earlier on the platform:**_

_**"Don't tell me you don't know?" Draco asked, clearly pleased with himself. "You've got a father and brother at the Ministry and you don't even know? My god, my father told me about it ages ago...heard it from Cornelius Fudge. But then, Father's always associated with the top people at the Ministry...maybe your father's too junior to know about it, Weasley...yes...they probably don't talk about important stuff in front of him..." Draco laughed, then left the carriage. Annoyed, Ron slammed the carriage door shut behind Draco, pulling it with such force that he shattered the glass.**_

_**Harry remembered Hermione fixing it then reproving Ron, but he went after Draco, wanting to know what the Slytherin had been talking about. He found Draco standing outside the train carriages, watching as the landscape flew past them, the train having gotten past the rain that was accompanying them as they left King's Cross.**_

_**"What the hell is your problem, Malfoy?" Harry said by way of greeting. The other boy merely ignored him. Harry walked up to him and grabbed his shoulder, forcing Draco to look at him.**_

_**"Rather than insulting us because you think you're so high and mighty, why don't you just tell us what's going on?!" Harry said, practically shouting at Draco. Draco sighed.**_

_**"Just leave me alone Potter", he replied, rather quietly, and without the vehemence usually in his voice whenever he spoke to Harry.**_

_**"What's the matter with you?" Harry asked, clearly realising that there was a problem, although he wasn't sure why he cared.**_

_**"Like it's any of your business", Draco answered angrily, apparently having realised that he hadn't spoken to Harry the way he normally did. Before Harry could say anything else, Draco went back inside the train, returning to his housemates in their carriage. Harry followed a moment later, rejoining Ron and Hermione, and, when asked where he'd gone, he truthfully answered that he'd just gone outside for a moment, although he didn't tell his friends about his conversation with Draco.**_

Harry looked up from his position leaning against Draco's shoulder and realised that the other boy had fallen asleep. He edged away, careful not to disturb him, and gently laid Draco down, covering him with a blanket helpfully provided by the Room of Requirement. He then sat in one of the armchairs, curled up under a second blanket, facing Draco still.

Draco had always been kind of an asshole, and still had to act that way. The first time Harry realised that he might like the other boy was after one of these incidents where Malfoy was acting like a stuck-up brat, not long after the start of their fourth year. Malfoy had been reading out some stupid article from the Daily Prophet about Ron's dad, and then showed a picture of Arthur and Molly Weasley standing in front of the Burrow.

_**"And there's a picture, Weasley!" Draco said, flipping the paper over and holding it up. "A picture of your parents outside their house – if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"**_

_**Ron was shaking with fury. Everyone was staring at him.**_

_**"Get stuffed, Malfoy", Harry said. "C'mon, Ron..."**_

_**"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?" Draco sneered. "So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"**_

_**"You know your mother, Malfoy", Harry said – both he and Hermione had grabbed the back of Ron's robes to stop him launching himself at Draco – "That expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?"**_

_**Draco's pale face went slightly pink. "Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter."**_

_**"Keep your fat mouth shut, then", Harry said, turning away.**_

_**BANG!**_

_**Several people screamed – Harry felt something white hot graze the side of his face – he plunged his hand into his robes for his wand, but before he'd even touched it, he heard a second loud BANG, and a roar which echoed through the Entrance Hall.**_

_**"OH NO YOU DON'T LADDIE!"**_

_**Harry spun around. Professor Moody was limping down the marble staircase. His wand was out and it was pointing right at a pure white ferret, which was shivering on the stone-flagged floor, exactly where Draco had been standing.**_

_**There was a terrified silence in the Entrance Hall. Nobody but Moody was moving a muscle. Moody turned to look at Harry – at least his normal eye was looking at Harry; the other one was pointing into the back of his head. Slowly, several of the students began tittering, although they tried to hold back their laughter, for fear of Professor Moody's anger being directed at them. When ferret-Draco tried to leave, Moody levitated him and began bouncing him up and down in the air, which caused even the more reserved students to smile. Professor McGonagall soon appeared and put a stop to what was going on, and Draco and Moody went off to have a chat with Professor Snape, Draco's Head of house, while the crowd dispersed for dinner. Once at the table, people began laughing around Harry, but he just sat there thinking: **_**surely that punishment was a bit severe, although I don't know what it was he almost hit me with – no! Why am I caring about Malfoy! He's a stuck up little prick...but, that might just be because of his family, after all, it's surprising that Sirius turned out okay when his family was so...If I don't laugh, or at least grin, Hermione and Ron will notice, but I'm not sure if I should...Why do I care so much about Malfoy?**

_That was the first time I thought about him as anything other than an enemy_, Harry thought to himself. _Although I didn't really understand what I was feeling at the time, I did feel sort of sorry for him, and I wanted to know what was really going on behind that mask he was wearing. I later found out that he wasn't even dark, or loyal to Voldemort, he just had to act the part to keep up appearances._

On the couch beside Harry's armchair, Draco was waking up.

"Sorry, did I fall asleep?" Draco asked.

"Don't worry about it. I just needed to see you tonight, to spend time with you after the summer with...anyway, you didn't need to be awake."

"Should I be worried what you were thinking about?"

"Just about us", Harry responded. He stood up with a sigh, letting the blanket pool around his feet. "We should probably get back to our dorms and get some proper sleep, it's almost 2am, and we have classes tomorrow." He bent to pick up the blanket, tossing it onto the chair, then walked past Draco to his cloak, while Draco stood up to follow him. Before he could retrieve the map, Harry was turning around, and felt cool lips press against his. He happily returned the kiss.

They broke apart a few moments later, Harry smiling widely, while Draco's face just showed the barest hint of a smile. Harry used the map to determine that it was safe for them both to go, and the two left, both under Harry's cloak. Harry took Draco back to the Slytherin common rooms, not wanting to risk the blond having to walk without being hidden – even though Draco was a prefect, Harry was thinking about those two ninjas who almost caught him earlier – before returning to his own dorm, to get some sleep, although Draco didn't let him leave without another kiss first, pressed up against the wall outside the Slytherin common room, and both hidden under Harry's Invisibility Cloak.

As he lay in bed, he wondered how bad tomorrow would be – the Daily Prophet would know about the ninja's arrival by now, and the Ministry would have to refute the idea that there was actually any need for protection. Voldemort would also probably know about their arrival by now as well. Classes started, including with that woman from his trial, and Draco would probably have to be an asshole to him during the day. And he had to put up with people who thought he was lying about Voldemort's return. Harry sighed and rolled over – _tomorrow's going to be a long day_ he thought to himself, as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**A/N - Please read and review**

**Next Chapter - classes start, more on Sasuke and Naruto's relationship and Harry's detention with Umbridge**


	4. 4 - Relationship Thoughts

Normal Text

_Thoughts_

**_Flashback_**

**Thoughts within a flashback**

SUMMARY: Albus hires shinobi to protect Harry (and Hogwarts) during Harry's fifth year. However, Harry has a secret that not even he knows about.

WARNINGS: SasuNaru, HarryxDraco, Drarry, possibly other yaoi pairings

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or Naruto, they are the property of J. K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto respectively

**A/N - Thanks to everyone who favourited and/or followed this story and/or me and to the reviews!**

* * *

It was the evening, and the four shinobi sat around the table in the shared area of their quarters, the students having just finished their first day of classes. Naruto had decided to send a message to Tsunade to let her know how everything was going, so instead of switching over their patrols, all four of them had sent clones to patrol, while their real selves discussed what they had discovered so far.

Tenten began: "It doesn't seem to me like the students are that much involved in this war that's going on, and nor do the teachers seem to be either, so far. As for their powers, they do seem to be able to do some things we haven't seen before."

"Like what?" Naruto asked.

"Well, last night, while I was patrolling on the seventh floor with Kakashi's clone, I thought I sensed someone nearby. But they were hidden in some way – I thought a genjutsu, but releasing it didn't work, and nor did the Sharingan, although clone-Kakashi could sense someone's presence as well."

"Is there anything of interest in the area?" Neji asked.

"I couldn't see anything", Tenten replied. "But this castle seems like the sort of place to have secret passageways that even the teachers and students aren't aware of, so perhaps it was someone in a hidden area? Either that or some sort of invisibility magic."

"I haven't read anything about that," Kakashi began, "but I've started with the fifth year books to get an idea of what Potter-san is learning. I did see Vanishing Spells, but they were all for small animals. However, if those are possible, I see no reason why they couldn't make themselves invisible as well, if they were powerful enough."

"Ok," Naruto said, "for now, just continue patrolling, as we have no evidence that the invisible person was a threat, and it may just have been a student sneaking around for some reason or another. Did you find out anything else from the textbooks Kakashi?"

"Well, their curriculum seems quite varied, and apparently also changes, in some cases quite regularly. For example, there is a new person holding the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor every year, and all require different books and teach different things. The other subjects seem fairly regular, but not what would be expected from a group being prepared for war – it's like they're completely insulated from those things, which is difficult for us to understand. From what I've read so far, much of what they learn has little to do with defending themselves, which is likely why they have a specific class for it."

"Have you read the book for that class yet, Kakashi-san?" Neji asked. "It seems like many of the students today were complaining about it, and about the teaching methods of Umbridge-sensei."

"The book doesn't seem to tell them much at all about combat. In fact, it is entirely theoretical and often advocates fleeing as the best course of action", Kakashi replied dryly.

"From what you have told us about Umbridge-sensei, Naruto-sama, this is to be expected", Neji said.

"Yeah", Naruto replied. "You and my clone saw part of her class today, din't you?"

"Yes", Neji replied. "It was quite boring, actually, the students were just told to read from the book, and she directly said that there would be no active part at all, that theoretical study would be enough to pass even the practical part of their examination. Even the students seemed to have found this unusual. There was clearly a political aspect to this though, as she kept mentioning their government."

"So it's like what Harry's friends said at the Welcoming Feast – the government is interfering in the education of the students, even though they have no right to", Naruto summed up.

"I understand why they need us", Tenten said. "These students clearly cannot defend themselves, and this place is too large for the teachers. Also, you'd expect the defence teacher to be the main person involved in protecting the school, but she may not even be that good, given that she hasn't actually demonstrated her magic yet, and besides, she is adamant that there is nothing out there which the school needs to be protected against."

"Potter-san got detention with her for speaking out about the events at the end of the last school year – it appears that Voldemort-dono really was gone for a while, and returned, killing another young boy and battling with Potter-san, although Potter-san was eventually able to escape", Neji said.

"I saw part of his detention as I was coming up here", Naruto stated. "It didn't seem too bad, he was just made to write the same sentence over and over again, presumably the point is for him to start believing it."

"What was the sentence?" Kakashi asked.

" 'I must not tell lies'," Naruto answered. "The 'lies' are obviously referring to those events from last year."

"Surely by hiring us Professor Dumbledore is stating his belief in Potter-san?" Tenten asked.

"It's probably just more politics," Naruto answered, "the Ministry is ignoring the truth because it doesn't help them, while Dumbledore is trying to get everyone to prepare for war. And he advertised our belief in that too, at the Welcoming Feast. Today no-one approached me and Neji, possibly as they don't know us, or are even frightened of us, but sooner or later we'll start being questioned, possibly even by Umbridge."

"By now everyone will be in bed", Kakashi said, bringing the meeting to an end. "So Tenten and I should start our patrols, and I'll carry on reading their textbooks."

"When you're done with the fifth year books, it might be good to read the ones for the previous years, which Harry already knows, then the ones for the higher levels", Naruto suggested.

"Will do, Hokage-kun", Kakashi replied, standing and giving a mock bow, before heading out of their quarters. Tenten followed, rolling her eyes, while Naruto just glared at his back, trying to do an imitation of Sasuke's glare. Neji sighed and left to go to bed, while Naruto finished his message to Tsunade, then summoned a toad to take the message to her. He then leant back in his chair, wondering if Sasuke was behaving himself in the village, so that he could join them later. _After all,_ Naruto mused to himself, _they don't trust him at all, and they've had an excuse not to since he ran out on his first 'proper' mission._

* * *

The two swords clanged as they collided, Kusanagi clashing against Kubikiribocho. Sasuke jumped backwards, sheathing his sword and performing the handsigns for the fireball technique, while Suigetsu just rested his sword on his shoulder and sighed to himself, liquefying his body into a puddle on the ground as the fire shot over his head. He smirked as he reformed himself:

"Was that supposed to do something to me?" Suigetsu asked. Sasuke just glared and redrew his sword, running his chidori down the blade as he attacked again. Suigetsu grinned and lifted his sword back in front of him, parrying all of Sasuke's blows, until the other once again jumped away from him, presumably to try another longer-range jutsu.

"You know, just 'cause you aren't getting laid, doesn't mean you have to be so vicious, especially when we're only sparring." Again, a glare was Sasuke's only response, before he teleported behind Suigetsu and pointed Kusanagi at Suigetsu's back. From one of the nearby trees, Karin jumped down.

"I knew you would win against that loser, Sasuke-kun", she gushed.

"Hn."

"I think he might have been right about that not getting laid thing though – you're a lot more annoyed than usual", she continued. Sasuke glared at them both, causing Karin to shrink back, but Suigetsu just stood there, seemingly unaffected.

"How can you just stand there?" Karin asked Suigetsu.

"He has to behave or he won't get sent to Britain", Suigetsu replied simply.

"You know", Sasuke said, speaking quite quietly, "how can they say I haven't behaved myself if they never find the bodies?" At that, both Karin and Suigestu stepped backwards.

"I think I'm thirsty, you want to get a drink with me Karin?" Suigetsu asked, the Uchiha death-glare now affecting him.

"Yeah sure", Karin answered. Both of them then ran off back down to the village from the training grounds. Sasuke sighed to himself: _I know it's only been a few days, but it's not horniness, I just miss Naruto. Besides, we've been together pretty much every day since I came back to the village, except when he was off doing his sage training, and during that I had missions, even if they were just D-rank. Except that one which apparently ruined everything, as now the elders use it as an example for not trusting me, when I "ran off during my first 'proper' mission" as Naruto likes to put it._

_**Sasuke, Anko and Yamato were all gathered around a scroll, waiting for Sai to return with the information he was gathering on Kabuto. Suddenly, Sasuke started, as if something had happened, then, without a word to the others, he ran off towards Konoha.**_

_**It took him some time to reach the village, and, by the time he had, there was nothing left but a crater. He looked up into the sky, where there was a large ball of rock. **_**Naruto is inside,**_** he thought to himself, **_**but his chakra...it's way out of control.**

On the other side of the world, Naruto was thinking about the same mission.

_**Naruto was knelt in some water, facing the caged Nine-Tails. His head was in his hands as he muttered:**_

_**"What am I supposed to do? I don't know anything anymore! Someone, help me... Give me the answer."**_

_**"Destroy everything", a deep voice said from in front of him. "Erase everything that hurts. Give me your soul. I will save you from your suffering." Naruto jolted backwards in pain, his jacket and shirt opening as the seal appeared on his stomach.. The swirl combined into one black circle which then seemed to drip out onto the floor, turning everything black.**_

Sasuke remembered:

_**After a moment of nothing, a red burst of chakra erupted from the side of the ball of rock. It was the same chakra as Naruto had used at the Valley of the End – it was the chakra of the tailed beast inside him. As Sasuke stood there, seven tails of the same red chakra burst through the ball of rock, before a long neck and head emerged. **_**That's Naruto?**_** Sasuke thought. As a huge burst of water shot upwards, Sasuke noticed Naruto's opponent, an Akatsuki member. The fox easily fought back, breathing fire out to combat the water attack, setting falling pieces of rock on fire with the strength of his attack.**_

Naruto got up from his chair in the shared area and went to lay on his bed. _I almost released the full chakra of the Nine-Tails that day_, he mused.

_**"Come over here", the Nine-Tails said from inside his cage. "Come... Rip this Seal off me." Naruto limped forwards, the water beneath him lifting him up to the seal. He reached forwards, ready to remove it, when his hand was grabbed and he was pushed down into the water below.**_

_**"You're...", the Nine-Tails began.**_

_**"Yondaime... Hokage...", Naruto finished.**_

_**"I worked it into the seal spell so that I would appear within your psyche, should the seal be broken to the point you sprouted the eighth tail", the Yondaime explained. "I really wanted to avoid that... Since I had no desire to see you again...Kyuubi. Then again...I did look forward to seeing my son as a young man. So I'll call it even.**_

_**"Yondaime Hokage!" Kyuubi growled from behind him. "Come here! I'll rip you to shreds!"**_

_**"Well, if that's the case, I'll stay away. Right, Naruto?"**_

_**"Naruto... My name... How come the Yondaime knows my name?"**_

_**"Hm? Well... I'm the one who named you. You are my son, after all."**_

_**"Son? Then... I'm..." Naruto began.**_

_**"Yes", the Yondaimed responded. "You heard me. You're my son." Naruto paused for a moment, before smiling, his eyes filling with tears that began to leak out down his face. He laughed as the Kyuubi growled again behind them:**_

_**"Yondaime Hokage!"**_

_**"Loud fellow, isn't he? Let's go somewhere quiet." He snapped his fingers and the surroundings changed, from the water and caged beast that Naruto was used to into a place much brighter, where everything around them was white. Naruto wiped his eyes, still laughing slightly.**_

_**"The Sandaime didn't tell you much of anything, did he?" the Yondaime said, looking somewhat annoyed. "I guess he wanted to suppress as much information about the Nine-Tails as possible. If people had found out you were my son, you'd have been in danger." Naruto moved his arm away from his face, his eyes closed and head facing towards the ground.**_

_**"Dad...", Naruto said. He then jumped forward and punched his father in the gut, before leaning back, his face streaming with tears, to continue: "Why did you seal the Kyuubi inside your own son?! Do you know what I went through because of that?! All the grown-ups looked at me with contempt...And I couldn't make any friends. I wanted people to accept me, so I trained really hard to become strong. Then I met Iruka-sensei, and Kakashi-sensei, and ero-sannin... And I was happy because they helped make me stronger! But because of that, a group called the Akatsuki came after me, so I had to train even more. I got to be even stronger, but the Akatsuki still killed my friends. But...huh? What am I saying? Damn it, am I supposed to be happy or mad?! I don't know anymore!" Naruto broke off, wiping his eyes with his sleeve again.**_

_**The Yondaime continued to talk to him, revealing that he had sealed half of the Kyuubi chakra inside Naruto because he believe he could handle it – because Naruto was his son. And because there was a threat to the village which would require this power. The Yondaime continued for a while before restoring the seal, so Naruto could continue fighting Pain himself:**_

_**"I will rebuild this seal. However, this will be for the last time." The Yondaime pressed his hand to Naruto's stomach, the black circle turning back into the swirl it had been before. "The Leaf can be rebuilt. I'm counting on you... Naruto!" The Yondaime faded away into the light around them. As he did so, Naruto thought he heard him add: "And your brother", but Naruto was sure he was mistaken.**_

Lying on the bed in Hogwarts, Naruto had only just remembered that final thing, as he soon after continued fighting Pain, and then spent the few months after that rebuilding the village. He shook his head, sure that he had just misheard – _he was fading away after all, he could have said anything, and I'd know if I had a brother, _Naruto thought.

Sitting in the training ground in Konoha, Sasuke thought about how he had done little to help. When Naruto had regained his own form, and fallen from the remains of the rock sphere, Sasuke had moved towards him, but Naruto had just shaken his head at Sasuke.

_**"Go help the survivors and dig out anyone trapped", Naruto told him. "I can handle this... I will handle this. I know you said you would get my revenge for me if I wanted, but...I can do this myself." Sasuke recalled their conversation, after Naruto had heard about Jiraiya's death. He knew that Naruto wasn't the sort of person who would seek revenge, which is why he had offered in the first place, but this person had clearly attacked and destroyed the whole village, which was likely what Naruto was actually fighting for, not revenge. **_**I fought for revenge, while he fought to protect his friends****,**_** Sasuke thought to himself. **_**It still seems that way sometimes, even though I will protect this village which Itachi died for, sometimes...sometimes I just feel like I'm getting revenge on Itachi's behalf for whatever happens to the village****.**

_**As Sasuke moved around, looking for survivors, he saw Kakashi, mostly buried in rubble. He quickly dug out his sensei and laid his body out on the floor, but Kakashi was already dead. Suddenly, Kakashi opened his eyes and sat up. Katsuyu was beside them:**_

_**"I will explain everything", she said. She then told them how Naruto had talked around the Rinnegan-bearer, Nagato, who had then restored all those whom he had killed, before dying himself. Sasuke closed his eyes. **_**That sounds like my dobe,**_** he thought, **_**talking around the enemy.**

_**"Will you be alright?" Sasuke asked Kakashi.**_

_**"Hm? Yes, I'll be fine", Kakashi responded. "Just go." Sasuke realised that Kakashi knew what he had been asking, and sped off through the trees, knowing Naruto's location instinctively. He arrived just as Naruto collapsed forwards, catching him and carrying him back towards the village.**_

_**"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, clearly weakened by all his battles.**_

_**"Just let me", Sasuke said, by way of response. As they got closer to the edge of the trees, he set Naruto down, and stood back. "You should go", Sasuke said, "they're waiting." Naruto looked questioningly at Sasuke, before walking forward, being met with loud cheers from the village. Sasuke allowed himself a small smile as Naruto got the praise and recognition he had been yearning for his whole life.**_

On the training field, Sasuke sighed quietly and stood up. _As I ran off on that one mission, _he thought,_ the elders continue to say that I am untrustworthy. Yet, I only did it because I sensed that Naruto had returned from his sage training and was facing a powerful enemy. I later found out that Yamato had run off as well, when he realised that the Nine-Tails was breaking free, but I was a nukenin for so long that they aren't likely to come to trust me quickly. Even Naruto may be stupid for doing so, but the connection, the bond between us...I think he can tell that I'm sincere about protecting the village, now that I know the truth about Itachi and the massacre of the clan. Even so, Naruto doesn't know that, as he died, Itachi dropped a scroll which had been hidden inside his clothes. When I read it, it told me the truth, about how the clan was planning to overthrow the Hokage, and that Itachi was backed into a corner. The scroll also told me that I..._

"Sasuke!", a voice called from behind me. Karin emerged from the trees a moment later. "Sorry, but Tsunade-sama wants to see you and Suigetsu, I said I'd pass along the message when it was given to Suigetsu while we were getting drinks."

"Hn."

"He's gone now, so you should probably catch up with him", Karin continued.

"You and Suigetsu had drinks together?" Sasuke asked, only just realising the implications. Karin blushed.

"It's not like that, we just wanted to get away, after all you were glaring at us in that way...and...well, I..."

"Never mind", Sasuke said. "I'm really not that interested." He walked past Karin, before jumping up into the trees, using them to more rapidly get back into the village, and heading for the Hokage tower once he arrived, wondering what the Hokage could possibly want both him and Suigetsu for. _Unless, _he thought, _she's sending us on to Britain now? Have Gai and Lee healed up, so that we can leave?_

* * *

Harry was lying in his bed, the same as the night before, waiting for everyone to fall asleep so that he could go and meet Draco again. His hand throbbed as he leaned on it, reaching across for the Marauder's Map. He tapped it and said the password, this time opening the map fully, so that he could see where everyone was. He noticed two ninjas in what was presumably their quarters, Hyuga Neji and Uzumaki Naruto. He scanned the map for the other two, who had almost caught him last night. He found them in the library, not moving around much, but...there were two!

Harry looked at the map before him. Hatake Kakashi and Tenten were in the library, but...they were also patrolling the corridors. He wondered how they could be in two places at once, especially as he knew, from his experiences in his third year, that the Map wasn't wrong, even if it said something which seemed to make no sense. _But this isn't like with Pettigrew, _Harry thought, _there is actually two of both of them. So they can copy themselves then? That's kinda weird._ He ignored it, and looked along the way to the Room of Requirement. It seemed clear, the two patrolling ninjas were down on the second floor, and no teachers were in the area. Hearing the familiar deep breathing of his dorm-mates, Harry slipped out of bed, and headed to the Room of Requirement under his Cloak, the same as he had done the night before. Once again, Draco was waiting there for him, in the same room.

"How is it that you always beat me here?" Harry questioned.

"Well," Draco smirked, "Crabbe and Goyle both fall asleep quickly and deeply, and everyone else draws their curtains, with silencing charms so that we can't hear them making any noise, and so they don't get disturbed if anyone else moves around. As soon as they do that, I can sneak out without anyone noticing. Plus, I _am_ a prefect, so I have an excuse to be out of bed." Harry said nothing, merely grumbling to himself as he moved to sit next to Draco on the couch. He leaned his head on Draco's shoulder, in the same position as the night before, and Draco cuddled him close.

However, it wasn't long before Draco noticed Harry's bandaged hand.

"What happened?" he asked.

"It's nothing, just an accident", Harry answered. Draco narrowed his eyes at him, clearly not believing him, but ignored it, knowing that Harry would only tell him when he was ready to, although he did start thinking of ways to make that time come sooner.

"How were your classes today?"

"Umbridge is a bitch. She gave me detention every day this week for shouting at her that Voldemort is back." Draco sighed in response.

"I really need to help you learn to control your temper", he said.

"No you don't", Harry replied. Draco looked at him skeptically, so he elaborated: "You really don't. I can keep my temper under control just fine, but I'm not supposed to...Just like you have to act dark and evil out there –" he gestured in the direction of the corridor "– I have to act like an over-emotional teenager. I do care, don't get me wrong, and it does annoy me that people won't accept the truth, especially as blatantly as she did, but...I could keep my temper in check and blow up in here, at you or the practice dummies. I just don't. Gryffindors are supposed to be rash like that, aren't we?" Draco looked at Harry for a moment.

"You almost sound like you aren't sure how Gryffindors are supposed to act. If you just act like yourself, then that should be the same, after all, you are a Gryffindor."

"But I wasn't supposed to be. The hat wanted to put me in Slytherin." At that, Draco pushed him back slightly, so that he could look Harry in the eye.

"Seriously?"

"Yep. I just asked for Gryffindor, as I had been told all Slytherins were evil, and you were an arse to Ron, so I figured Ron was right about all other Slytherins."

"I guess I should have realised that", Draco admitted. At Harry's questioning look, he continued: "You are a Parselmouth, and pretty devious when you want to be. Yet at other times you are a Gryffindor. You almost seem like a mixture of the two, brave and loyal, yet sly and snaky at the same time."

"I'm not sure how to take that", Harry said.

"Then take it as a compliment." Draco leaned in to kiss Harry, and the other accepted, moving forward and wrapping his arms around Draco's neck.

After a moment, Harry pulled back and leaned forwards, his forehead against Draco's shoulder.

"This is going to be a long year, isn't it?" he asked, voice slightly muffled.

"Looks that way", Draco said from above him. "By the way, we probably shouldn't meet for a few days, just to make sure about those ninjas."

"I agree", Harry sighed. "I just wish I could see you every night, especially with how we have to act towards each other during the day." He moved, settling down so that his head was in Draco's lap. "But can we just stay like this for a little while, then go back? Just so I have something to keep me going?"

"Sure", Draco responded. His hand found its way into Harry's hair, playing with it, while his ther hand was settled on Harry's chest. Harry was lying on his back, his knees on the edge of the couch, with his feet dangling off the side. Both of them closed their eyes, relaxing in each other's company.

_I always hate how we have to act out there, _Harry thought to himself, _especially as it has to escalate as we get older. Even last year was bad enough, although I did at least eventually realise what I had been feeling for Draco..._

_**Harry was with Ron and Hermione in the empty Transfiguration classroom. They were helping him practice for the upcoming third task.**_

_**"Come and look at this", Ron said. He was standing by the window looking down into the grounds. "What's Malfoy doing?" Harry and Hermione joined him by the window. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were standing in the shadow of a tree below, Crabbe and Goyle apparently acting as look-outs while Malfoy was speaking into his hand.**_

_**"He looks like he's using a walkie-talkie", Harry said curiously.**_

_**"He can't be", Hermione said. "I've told you, those sort of things don't work around Hogwarts. Come on Harry", she added briskly, turning away from the window, "let's try that Shield Charm again."**_

_**Later that day, Harry was walking around the school, trying to avoid everyone. He was walking down an empty corridor, facing the ground, when he bumped into someone. He went to apologise, but when he looked up, it was Draco.**_

_**"Watch where you're going, Potter", Malfoy said.**_

_**"Leave me alone, Malfoy", Harry replied.**_

_**"Or what? It's not like there's anyone around you can go crying to for help."**_

_**"What makes you think I need it?" Harry asked, reaching into his robes for his wand. Draco drew his wand on him and threw a hex, but Harry blocked it with the Shield Charm he had been working on earlier. He blocked all of Draco's continued attacks, the other boy moving closer and closer to Harry.**_

_**"Why won't you just fall?" Draco asked, clearly getting frustrated with the lack of effectiveness of his attempts to hit Harry, as well as Harry's non-caring attitude. He dropped his wand and instead went to punch Harry. Harry, who was not expecting this, quickly dropped his wand and moved, but was not fast enough. The two boys fell through a door which had suddenly appeared in the wall, into a large empty room which looked perfect for duelling or fighting. Harry used Accio to summon both their wands, before slamming the door shut behind them and pushing Draco against a wall.**_

_**"What is your problem with me, ferret?" Harry snarled at him. Draco looked taken aback for a moment, **_**in fact,**_** Harry thought, **_**was he upset? **_**Harry remembered the incident earlier in the year, when Draco had been turned into a ferret by Professor Moody, and moved backwards. "Sorry, I didn't mean to..." he was interrupted as Draco's fist connected with his face.**_

_**"Like you have any idea, Potter!"**_

_**"Any idea about what? Why don't you just tell me, rather than attacking me in the corridor? I only bumped into you, and it's not like I'm in a good place right now!"**_

_**"Well at least your family isn't forcing you to be on his side!" Draco shouted. His expression then changed, as he realised what he had said, and he stepped away from Harry, saying something about leaving and heading for the door. Before he could, however, the door vanished.**_

_**"What the hell is this place?" Harry asked, ignoring Draco's earlier comment for a moment.**_

_**"The Room of Requirement", Draco answered. At Harry's confused look, he continued: "You haven't heard of it? It's a room that turns into whatever you want, if you concentrate hard enough while in the corridor. We must have been thinking about a suitable place to fight, which is why the door appeared in the first place, and the door disappeared just now because you don't want me to leave."**_

_**"Oh", was Harry's only reply, taking in the information. He closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating on somewhere better. He thought up the room which the two of them were still using in the present.**_

_**"What's this for?" Draco asked, noticing that Harry hadn't thought up a way out, but rather a way to keep them both inside the room.**_

_**"So we can talk."**_

_**"About what?"**_

_**"You're not dark but you're family is?" Harry asked, sitting down in one of the armchairs.**_

_**"Well...I...it's not like you can do anything!"**_

_**"No, but at least I can understand where you're coming from."**_

_**"I don't understand", Draco said, sitting in the other armchair, opposite Harry.**_

_**"Why do you act the way you do towards me? Even at the very beginning, you just decided we should be friends. I don't understand."**_

_**Draco sighed: "My father thought it would be useful if I was friends with you. You obviously know now that I don't hold the same beliefs as him, so I figured that if he wanted us to be friends, I would make sure that we weren't. After that, it was a Gryffindor-Slytherin thing, as well as the fact that my father is a Death Eater and you're...well, you're you." Draco stood up, pacing around the room. "You can't tell anyone about any of this, no-one can know that I like you." Harry looked up in surprise.**_

_**"You like me?"**_

_**"Well, yeah, you're a good person and you fight for what you believe in, not just for some lunatic who wants to commit genocide."**_

_**"Oh", Harry replied, feeling downcast.**_

_**"What did you think I meant, that I was in love with you?", Draco remarked snidely, sounding much more like he usually did. He went to sit on the couch so that his legs were by Harry's. "Or is that what you wanted me to mean?" Draco asked.**_

_**"Don't mess with me", Harry replied angrily, making to stand up. However, Draco stopped him by grabbing his arm, then pulled Harry onto his lap. "Hey...what are y–", Harry began, but broke off when he realised that he was sat on his enemy's lap – **_**no, former enemy****,**_** he mentally corrected himself. He shifted slightly, moving his knees to either side of Draco's lap so that he was straddling him properly.**_

_**"I wasn't", Draco said.**_

_**"Huh?" Harry responded, having forgotten what he'd just been saying.**_

_**"I wasn't messing with you, it's a serious question. Did you want me to mean that I liked you in a romantic way?"**_

_**"No, I want you to mean that you like me in a romantic way, not liked", Harry answered. Draco looked up at him and Harry blushed, turning his head away, even though he was unconsciously leaning forwards as the blond boy wrapped his arms around Harry's waist. Draco moved his hand up to Harry's cheek, turning Harry to face him. Before Harry could say anything, Draco leaned forward and kissed him. Shocked at the sudden display of emotion, Harry didn't respond. After a moment, Draco leaned back.**_

_**"Sorry", Draco said, pushing Harry off his lap and standing up.**_

_**"W-wait", Harry said. Draco looked back as Harry touched his lips. "You just surprised me."**_

_**"So?"**_

_**"Do it again?" Harry asked, blushing even more as he looked away. Draco sat down then pushed Harry down onto his back.**_

_**"Do what again?" Draco asked, smirking – but not the same smirk he normally wore when he mocked Harry, this one was much softer, more teasing.**_

_**"You know", Harry replied, stubbornly refusing to look at Draco. Draco lifted one hand to Harry's cheek, forcig Harry to look at him. He stared into Harry's eyes.**_

_**"No, I don't." Harry growled in response, pulling Draco's lips down to meet his again.**_

_**"That, okay?" Harry panted, pulling back for a moment. "I want that."**_

_**"We can't ever tell anyone about this", Draco sighed, "not until he's gone. Even then, if my parents found out, they'd..." he trailed off.**_

_**"We don't have to", Harry said. "We can just keep it our secret, meet in here at night once everyone in our dorms has fallen asleep. But, can't we worry about that later? I'd rather just keep kissing you." Draco smiled and leaned back down, resuming kissing his...well, whatever they were now.**_

"Hey, Draco?" Harry said.

"Hm?"

"What are we? You know, to each other? I was just thinking about when we first kissed, after we found this room..."

"Really?" Draco said, pushing Harry down onto the couch and lying across him. "We were lying on the couch like this, weren't we?"

"Er...yeah", Harry said, looking up at Draco and losing his train of thought. He shook his head, trying to clear it. "I'm serious. I want to know what we are. I mean, if we could have a relationship outside this room, what would you call me?"

"My boyfriend", Draco answered, not even having to think about it.

"That was quick."

"I have thought about it before, especially over the summer. And that's what you are. _My_ boyfriend. Mine." Draco leaned down, bypassing Harry's mouth to kiss his neck. Harry moaned in response as he felt Draco smirk against his neck.

After a few minutes of kissing, the two of them sat back up, flushed and panting slightly.

"You said earlier we shouldn't meet again for a few days?" Harry asked, as they both straightened themselves out, knowing that they would have to leave soon.

"Yeah. With those ninjas patrolling around, and the school year starting again, especially with the amount of work they're piling on, it might be better if we don't meet every night. Especially as then I have something to look forward to." Draco leaned in and kissed his boyfriend again.

"Yeah", Harry replied breathlessly. "Saturday night, then? Most of the Gryffindor boys sleep in on a Sunday anyway, so we might be able to stay a bit later than normal."

"Okay", Draco agreed, standing up and moving towards the door. As they had done the previous night, Harry walked Draco back to his common room, before returning to his own to sleep, ignoring the pain in his hand.

* * *

**A/N - Please read and review**

**Next Chapter - Quidditch training, Umbridge becomes the High Inquisitor and Naruto misses Sasuke**


	5. 5 - Mission, Training and Homework

Normal Text

_Thoughts_

**_Flashback_**

**Thoughts within a flashback**

SUMMARY: Albus hires shinobi to protect Harry (and Hogwarts) during Harry's fifth year. However, Harry has a secret that not even he knows about.

WARNINGS: SasuNaru, HarryxDraco, Drarry, SuiKarin, possibly other yaoi pairings

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or Naruto, they are the property of J. K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto respectively

**A/N - Thanks to everyone who favourited and/or followed this story and/or me and to the reviews!**

* * *

Although the first week of term had seemed to have dragged on forever, it was now the weekend. Harry lay in his bed, the first to wake up in the dorm, watching dust swirl in the rays of sunlight, which were coming through the gap in the curtains around his bed. Harry got up and dressed himself quietly, the others in his dorm still sleeping, and went down to the common room, taking some parchment and a quill with him.

He settled himself in an armchair in the common room, thinking about what he wanted to write to Sirius about the events of the previous week. He knew he'd have to write it in code, so that, if intercepted, it wouldn't be mistaken for something else. In the end, he managed to write a short message which seemed innocuous enough:

_Dear Snuffles,_

_Hope you're OK, the first week back here's been terrible, I'm really glad it's the weekend._

_We've got a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Umbridge. She's nearly as nice as your mum. I'm writing because that thing I wrote to you about last summer happened again last night when I was doing a detention with Umbridge._

_We're all missing out biggest friend, we hope he'll be back soon._

_Please write back quickly._

_Best,_

_Harry_

He carefully sealed the parchment, satisfied with his letter, and headed out of the portrait hole, towards the Owlery. As he passed by several windows revealing the brilliant blue sky he thought about Quidditch training, which he had later that day. He soon arrived at the Owlery and sent off his letter with Hedwig. He watched her fly away, before turning around and leaving the Owlery, heading towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

* * *

Naruto and Neji were sat at the table in the shared area, having sent clones to watch the students while they ate breakfast. Before long, Kakashi and Tenten entered, having finished their night patrol, and sat down.

"Morning", Naruto said cheerfully. "We have a reply from Tsunade-baa-chan, from the letter I sent her a few days ago about what we knew so far."

"Anything important?" Tenten asked.

"She says that she doesn't know that much about magic or how it works, but that it's different enough that we probably shouldn't try comparing our powers with theirs exactly. However, she did think it was unusual that there was a way for someone to hide themselves that even the Sharingan couldn't see through. As for their defence teacher, she believes that the political situation here may be the reason for that, and we should continue to observe the reactions of the students to determine what's going on. Gai and Lee are recovering, but are still too injured to come. She also wanted to send Sasuke and Suigetsu, but she's been forced to send them on another mission, due to low manpower," Naruto concluded. _And probably something to do with the elders not liking Sasuke, _Naruto added silently.

"Well then, I guess for now we'll just have to keep patrolling with our clones", Kakashi said.

"I guess," Naruto replied. "Although, it would be nice if something actually happened rather than just our patrols."

"You want there to be an attack?" Neji asked.

"No, not an attack...just...it's kind of boring just waiting for something to happen. I wouldn't mind if the students were doing something more interesting, especially in their defensive classes, but they aren't. I'm just bored."

"You sound like there's someone you're missing in the village", Kakashi said, smiling to himself behind his mask.

"What? I...No, that's not...what are you...huh?" Naruto responded, stuttering out his answer as his face turned bright red. Tenten and Neji looked at one another before standing up, not wanting to get involved.

"I'm off to bed", Tenten said.

"I will go and relieve my clone in the Great Hall. I will have him wait outside the quarters for you when you wish to resume patrolling, Hokage-sama", Neji added. Naruto paid them little attention as they both left the room.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto asked Kakashi, trying to sound angry, but failing given that he was still blushing bright red.

"I just meant that it sounded like there was something else you'd rather be doing, presumably in the village."

"Something! Then why did you say 'someone'? Or is it just because you're a complete pervert?!"

"I don't know. Besides, why are you getting so upset? Unless there is someone? I'm hurt that you didn't tell me about this person, Naruto-kun."

"I'm not upset! And no, I'm not missing anyone! And stop calling me 'kun'!"

"Okay", Kakashi replied, standing up. "Well, I'm off to bed. See you later!" Naruto ignored him, trying to calm down and get rid of the redness of his face. _Why did he have to make me think about Sasuke? _Naruto thought to himself._ I was doing fine, just a bit bored about the lack of action. I mean fighting-action! _he corrected himself.

Naruto stood up, heading to leave, as he sensed that Neji's clone was waiting for him outside the door. _It's true, I am missing Sasuke, but Kakashi doesn't have to make it sound so perverted. Okay, so I want him here, and yes we are sleeping together, but I also just want him here so that we're together, I...I miss him._ Naruto closed his eyes, realising how much he needed Sasuke. He knew he cared about Sasuke a lot, and they were always close, but since Sasuke returned to the village they had been getting closer. He didn't know what they were to each other, but that wasn't important. _As long as he doesn't leave again...__after all, despite what everyone in the village believes, I don't actually know the real reason why Sasuke chose to return. Ero-sannin said that after Sasuke killed Itachi there would be no reason for him to return, yet that was exactly what Sasuke did, he returned the moment that Itachi was gone. I never wanted to ask him why, afraid that he would just leave again, but...when he gets here, I think I'll ask, I...I need to know._

Naruto went through the portrait hole. As he expected, Neji's clone was patiently waiting for him outside.

"Are you ready to start our patrols?" clone-Neji asked.

"Yeah, I guess", Naruto replied.

"If it helps at all, the students in the Great Hall were talking about a sport called 'Quidditch'. It appears that there will be a practice later today. That might ease your boredom."

"Thanks, Neji", Naruto said gratefully. The two of them walked off, beginning their patrol, while Naruto silently thought to himself about how to talk to Sasuke when he arrived, what to say that wouldn't hurt him, especially given that he would be mentioning Itachi's death.

* * *

"You want us to do what? Seriously?" Suigestu asked. "No offence, Hokage-sama, but the desert isn't exactly a good place for someone like me."

"I understand that, but the elders are pushing me to send you on a mission _before_ I let you go to Britain to join the others. Besides, this is a mission that is reasonably high-ranked, due to its political nature, and will give you both something to do while Gai and Lee are recovering."

"I guess...Sasuke?" Suigetsu said to the other man standing beside him, who had been silent through the whole conversation so far.

"Thank you for the mission, Hokage-sama, when do we leave?" Sasuke said, ignoring his pale-haired companion.

"Three days. I thought it would be best to send you with people you have been on missions with before. You will meet the rest of your team at 11am in three days time at the village gates. I will be there as well, and you should expect at least some of the elders to turn up, as a silent reminder of the importance of the success of this mission to you, although they will most likely excuse their presence as being due to the political nature of the mission."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama", Sasuke replied quietly. He left the office, Suigestu following him.

"What the hell was that?" Suigetsu asked, once they were outside. "Since when do you just accept something you don't want to do? You know you don't want this mission..."

"Shut up, Suigetsu", Sasuke replied, walking away, leaving Suigetsu staring after him. Sasuke walked through the village, ignoring the stares from the villagers around him. _I was hoping I was going to get to see Naruto again, _ he thought, _but I guess that was just wishful thinking, after all he's only been gone a few days. I still miss him though, even if I probably wouldn't say that to his face. I don't think this mission will be that fun, especially having to traipse through the desert with Suigetsu to do something which seems like it could be done by genin. Also, Tsunade-sama didn't tell us who the others who are going on this mission are, which probably means I'm not going to like the team. I really hope it's not Sakura – she's always trying to keep me away from Naruto, which is enough of a reason to hate her. I guess I'll find out in a few days time._

* * *

Naruto and clone-Neji were stood to one side of the Quidditch pitch, watching as several of the Gryffindors flew around above them, obscured by a genjutsu to avoid being noticed by the wizards. In the stands above them, several of the Slytherins were making mocking remarks towards the Gryffindors, particularly Harry's friend Ron Weasley.

"What's that Weasley's riding? Why would anyone put a flying charm on a mouldy old log like that?" one of the Slytherins drawled.

"Hey, Johnson, what's with that hairstyle, anyway?", one of the girls shrieked. "Why would anyone want to look like they've got worms coming out of their head?" The Gryffindors merely ignored them, continuing with their practice. Naruto hoped that this wasn't the entire point of the game, as, at the moment, they were just throwing a ball around.

"Hey, Potter, how's your scar feeling?" the first Slytherin called again. "Sure you don't need to lie down? It must be, what, a whole week since you were in the hospital wing, that's a record for you, isn't it?" Naruto hoped that this wasn't all that they were supposed to protect Potter from, after all, the Slytherins may be making remarks that were hurtful, but it wasn't as if the shinobi could really protect Potter from that.

For the second time, Ron missed the ball, and it hit one of his teammates in the face, giving her a nosebleed. Another member of the team gave her something which Naruto assumed was intended to help. After that, the other balls were released, and Naruto became more interested, following the small winged golden ball with his eyes, then watching as the two twins hit around another ball which kept trying to knock people off their brooms.

"I take it you are more interested now, Hokage-sama?" Neji asked quietly.

"Well this seems more exciting than wandering around the school, waiting for something to happen, while the students sit in classrooms learning stuff. I'd like to see them play an actual match – this looks like an interesting sport, especially with those flying brooms."

In the stands above, the Slytherins had started up a chant of 'Gryffindors are losers', which went ignored by the Gryffindors.

"Hmm", Naruto mused. "Neji, do you think those flying brooms would work for us? If we ran chakra through them or something?"

"I am not sure", Neji replied. He activated his Byakugan. "There appears to be a flow of magic within the broom, presumably spells which cause it to fly, but I can't see any link between the broom and the rider."

"Oh", Naruto replied, downcast. Above them, the girl with the nosebleed was getting worse, and the practice was soon ended when she had to be taken to the hospital wing. "We may as well go inside then", Naruto said, downcast – he wanted to be able to try flying. Clone-Neji followed him inside, and they continued patrolling the castle, as the Gryffindors had all returned to their common room.

* * *

"Confringo!" Harry shouted, his wand aimed at a practice dummy. A ball of fire shot out of his wand, but dissipated before it hit the target. He sighed and sagged backwards slightly, as Draco came up behind him.

"Try again", he encouraged.

"Why? It's not working", Harry replied.

"Just keep trying. You'll get it."

"Why don't you try something?" Harry asked. "I'm getting tired anyway; it's been a long week."

"What do you want me to try?"

"I don't know", Harry said, sitting on an arm of one of the armchairs, facing Draco and the practice dummies. "How about something you can't do that well, to make me feel better?"

"Fine", Draco sighed. Instead of facing the dummies, he turned towards the open section of room towards the door. "Expecto Patronum!" Nothing but a silvery wisp emerged from his wand.

"What memory are you using?" Harry asked, curious.

"Does it matter? You said a happy memory, so that's what I've been trying. But I still can't get it."

"When I first tried, I thought about something not particularly substantial, but afterwards I thought about the time when I found out that I was a wizard and would be leaving the Dursleys. Why don't you tell me your memory? I might be able to tell if it's strong enough."

"I'd rather not", Draco said, looking increasingly uncomfortable.

"Why not?" Harry asked, walking over to Draco and pressing himself against his boyfriend, his arms wrapping around the blond's neck. "Is it embarrassing?"

"No, I –"

"Then tell me", Harry said, nuzzling his nose into the crook of Draco's neck.

"It's you, okay?" Draco breathed. "I think about you." Harry pulled back slightly, looking up at Draco.

"Really?"

"Well, it's not like there's much else going on for me that's even good, let alone as amazing as you." Harry blushed at the compliment.

"What about me?"

"Huh?"

"What do you think of for the Patronus, precisely?"

"I don't really know", Draco replied. "I just think about you in general."

"You need to be more specific."

"Okay, then", Draco said, turning back towards the empty part of the room. "Expecto Patronum!" A long silver animal emerged from his wand, and moved around in the air for a moment before quickly dissipating. "Well, I guess that's a start", Draco said, not sounding that pleased.

"It's a snake", Harry said.

"Yeah, why?"

"Nothing, it's just, my father's was a stag and my mother's was a doe – apparently when you care about someone a lot, your Patronus is similar to theirs. I guess I was just hoping that yours would be like mine."

"You never know", Draco said, moving over to hug his boyfriend, "yours could change. After all, you are a parselmouth, and you do cover your Slytherin side quite well – perhaps you're covering your real Patronus as well." Harry smiled into Draco's shoulder, before leaning up to kiss him, opening his mouth to allow Draco's tongue inside. They made out for a while, before Draco pulled back.

"Don't stop", Harry said, leaning forward.

"It's getting really late, and we've been practising for a while –"

"You want to leave?! Now?! But, after we practised I was hoping we could have some time for us, especially of we're only going to be able to meet every week or so."

"You shouldn't interrupt. I was actually going to suggest that we clean up our practice stuff and go over to the couch for a while. Although, we should head back in around half an hour or so, especially if you have lots of homework left to do before Monday."

"Oh, okay then", Harry said, allowing Draco to lead him over to the couch and continue kissing him, glad that he had someone to depend upon, with whom he could also practice defensive magic.

* * *

Harry spent most of Sunday doing homework, buried under piles of books in the Gryffindor common room. Late in the evening, while working on the essay set by Professor Sinistra, Harry noticed Sirius' head in the fire. By that time, everyone else had already gone to bed, as it was now past midnight.

"I was starting to think that you'd go to bed before everyone else had disappeared", Sirius' head said from the fire. "I've been checking every hour", he added, grinning.

After Hermione pointed out the dangers of Sirius talking to them in that way, the conversation was soon steered towards Harry's scar, the subject of his letter to Sirius the previous day.

"Well, now he's back it's bound to hurt more often", Sirius said.

"So you don't think it had anything to with Umbridge touching me while I was in detention with her?" Harry asked.

"I doubt it. I know her by reputation and I'm sure she's no Death Eater –"

"She's foul enough to be one", Harry said darkly, Ron and Hermione nodding their agreement.

"Yes, but the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters", Sirius said with a wry smile.

Sirius told them about Umbridge's dislike for halfbreeds, before asking: "So what are Umbridge's lessons like? Is she training you all to kill half-breeds?"

"No", Harry replied. "She's not letting us use magic at all!"

"All we do is read the stupid textbook", Ron added.

"Ah, well, that figures", Sirius said. "Our information from inside the Ministry is that Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat – he's afraid that Dumbledore is forming his own private army to take on the Ministry of Magic."

After that they talked about Hagrid, before Sirius suggested he meet them in Hogsmeade. Harry turned him down, however, worried that he'd be caught. Sirius was clearly hurt, and soon left, leaving only a flickering flame in the place where his head had been. The trio packed up their stuff and headed off to bed. While lying there, Harry thought about some of the things he and Draco learnt about in the Room of Requirement – _even Dumbledore probably wouldn't like us to be taught some of that, _Harry thought, _after all, some of those books are ones that are only in the Restricted Section of the library. It's not like the stuff we learn is dark, but it's not really that light either...more like gray, stuff we can defend ourselves against the dark with, even if the light side might be wary of using such spells. Although they call it a 'war', even the Order doesn't want us to know stuff we can defend ourselves with...I'm glad Draco and I study this stuff, so I will at least have some chance when I face Voldemort again._

* * *

"So what did Tsunade-same want with you and Sasuke?" Karin asked, sitting down on the grass beside Suigestu, and handing him one of the two cups of drink that she was carrying.

"We have a mission, and if it goes well, then we'll be sent with Gai and Lee to join the others in Britain", Suigetsu replied. "Even though it's a stupid mission", he added, grumbling.

"What do you mean?" Karin asked, while Suigetsu drank from the cup she had brought him.

"Apparently it's a good idea to send me to the desert, on a mission which could be done by genin, with three weirdoes."

"Sasuke is not weird! Besides, you'll be fine. I wish I was going with you."

"With me?" Suigetsu asked, frowning slightly.

"No – I – I just meant with 'you' in general – you know, with...Sasuke, yeah, I wanted to be going on the mission to be with Sasuke-kun", Karin stuttered out, blushing.

"Oh", Suigetsu replied, turning away from her and continuing to drink from his cup. "I figured you'd miss me."

"Well, I mean...I'd notice that you weren't here, but it's not like I'd be thinking about you. Anyway," she continued, "how do you think Naruto and the others are getting on in Britain? It's been almost a week now."

"Well, if something bad had happened, we'd have heard, especially as Sasuke would probably sense it before it even happened."

"I know he and Naruto are close, but –"

"Yeah, close like Juugo is only tolerant of animals", Suigetsu said sarcastically.

"They aren't together, Suigetsu! After all, Sasuke and Naruto...they could have any girl in the village..."

"You mean like you?"

"Well, no", Karin replied, "Naruto and I _are_ pretty closely related, we have the same surname after all..."

"So, Sasuke?"

"No, actually, I – wait, why do _you_ care who I like?"

"No reason", Suigetsu replied, shrugging. "Just thought I could warn him about your sanity. Or lack thereof", he added under his breath. Karin heard him but ignored it, as they sat on the grass above Konoha, side by side, drinking from their cups. She looked over at him, blushing slightly. _Why is he so dense?_ she asked herself. _How much more obvious can I make it?_

"Suigetsu –"

"Don't worry so much, Sasuke and I will be fine – I suppose – and Naruto and the others in Britain will be as well. Besides", he continued, standing up, "it's getting late, we should get back."

"Yeah", Karin replied. She went to stand, only to see Suigetsu's hand held out, ready to help her up. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. "Thanks", she said, blushing again.

"No problem. We may as well walk back together, as we're sort of going the same way."

"Okay", Karin replied. _'Sort of going the same way'?_ she thought. _Well, that's obvious – when we returned to the village with Sasuke, they decided it would be easier for them to keep an eye on us if we were all in the same place. So they put us in the Uchiha district – I guess they figured they could easily watch us there, as we'd be the only ones in the district, and I assume Sasuke and probably Naruto had something to do with it as well. Even after our probation was up, it was just easier for us to keep living there, especially as none of us are making enough money for our own places just yet._ She sighed, looking over at Suigetsu. _How much more obvious can I make it that I like him? Perhaps I should just tell him outright, before he leaves for his mission – that way, he has some time to think about it! Plus, it will be easy to find some time alone with him, as Juugo's often outside, and Sasuke's nearly always away – although, for the last few days he's been around a lot more, so I'm not alone with Suigetsu as much, ever since Naruto left...I wonder why? Perhaps –_

"You alright?" Suigetsu asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"No reason, you just looked like something was bothering you."

"Suigetsu", Karin said after a brief pause. "What do you think about Sasuke and Naruto's relationship?"

"I think they're fucking", Suigetsu said, without even having to think about it.

"That was quick! And how do you know? And can you not use a different word for it?!"

"It's obvious from the amount of time they spend together and how they are around each other. And what word am I supposed to use? They're having sex, but I don't know – or care – if they have feelings for each other. Okay?"

"Yeah, I guess", Karin said, thinking things over still. They arrived at the Uchiha district, and went their separate ways.

"Goodnight", Suigetsu said.

"Yeah, 'night", Karin replied, not paying much attention. _So they're together? That would explain why Sasuke's been in such a bad mood lately, and why he's so desperate to join the mission to Britain..._ Karin continued to think as she went to bed, wondering if they would be okay – from what she had heard about Sasuke and Suigetsu's mission, they could be gone a while, so Sasuke may not get to join Naruto as soon as he thought.

* * *

Neji had just started his patrol for the day, and was watching Potter and his friends in the Great Hall. The owl-post had just brought them the morning newspaper, which held the news that Umbridge had been appointed Hogwarts High Inquisitor. Neji listened to Granger reading out the story to the two boys – according to the paper, Umbridge came to be appointed as Dumbledore could not find anyone else to fill the post, and she was apparently deemed an 'immediate success' by the Ministry, who had now given her this new position, which would allow her to inspect the other professors. The paper also revealed that there were rumours that the Ministry may be trying to replace Dumbledore, as well as stating that two people had resigned their posts in the Wizengamot in support of Dumbledore.

"...'Hogwarts is a school, not an outpost of Cornelius Fudge's office,' said Madam Marchbanks. 'This is a further, disgusting attempt to discredit Albus Dumbledore'," Hermione finished. _Well, _Neji thought, _given the amount of space in the article before that final statement, all of which discredited Dumbledore, it would seem that the writer has an opinion – or even that this is no more than propaganda released by the Ministry to ensure their actions will meet with approval from the majority of the population. If she is going to be inspecting the teachers, we will likely see a lot more of her...I'll tell Naruto when I see him, as he is running late._

The students soon moved on to their lessons, and Neji slipped out, using his Byakugan to find Naruto, who had just left their quarters and was making his way towards the Entrance Hall. Neji met him there, as Naruto was looking at the hourglasses filled with coloured stones.

"They represent the points gained by members of each house, Hokage-sama", Neji said, coming up behind Naruto. "The house with the most points at the end of the year wins some sort of trophy."

"Oh, okay", Naruto said. "Sorry I'm late", he continued, scratching the back of his head nervously. "I overslept." Neji wasn't sure if that was true or not, but decided not to press Naruto for information, especially as there would probably be a reason for Naruto to avoid telling him.

"Professor Umbridge has been made 'Hogwarts High Inquisitor'," Neji began, proceeding to tell Naruto what he had overheard in the Great Hall.

"Well, I guess we should be careful as well, then", Naruto joked. "After all, she may get the right to inspect us next!"

"To be honest, I'm not sure that is so far from the truth – we patrol the school, but we normally hide ourselves with genjutsu when the students are around. She may suggest that we aren't in fact doing our jobs, and try to force us to reveal ourselves more often, or even just question us about our mission or our country."

"We can easily answer those questions without revealing too much information", Naruto replied. "Besides, hopefully the others will arrive soon, and then there'll be more of us – perhaps she'll be too worried about annoying us. After all, when I first met her she seemed scared of me for some reason, and I was on my own. Never mind, let's start our patrols, shall we?" Neji used his Byakugan to ensure that the surrounding area was empty of students and teachers, before both of them made a shadow clone each. Neji and clone-Naruto went off to the library, as Neji wanted to read more about the politics of the wizarding world, especially given the apparent propaganda of the paper this morning – he was wondering it was normal for the news in this country to be so opinionated. Naruto and clone-Neji started their patrols of the school.

The morning was fairly uneventful, and neither of the two shinobi saw Umbridge. Neji took a break from the library at lunchtime to once again listen to the conversations in the Great Hall, particularly curious about the inspections. Naruto was still patrolling with his clone, so Neji didn't know if they had seen an inspection yet. As he stood there, he found out that Potter and his friends had not yet had an inspected class, but two others they were speaking with had, twins, who looked to be elder brothers of Potter's friend Ron. Their lesson just before lunch had been inspected.

"What was it like?" Harry and Hermione asked together.

"Not that bad", one of the twins shrugged. "Umbridge just lurked in the corner making notes on a clipboard. You know what Flitwick's like, he treated her like a guest, didn't seem to bother him at all. She didn't say much. Asked Alicia a couple of questions about what the classes are normally like, Alicia told her they were really good, that was it."

"I can't see old Flitwick getting marked down," the other twin said, "he usually gets everyone through their exams all right."

"Who've you got this afternoon?" the first twin asked Harry.

"Trelawney, and Umbridge herself", Harry replied.

"Well, be a good boy and keep your temper with Umbridge today", the second twin said. "Angelina'll do her nut if you miss any more Quidditch practices."

After that, the students finished their lunch before heading off to their afternoon classes. Neji returned to the library, meeting clone-Naruto on the way.

"It might be a good idea to have another meeting tonight", Neji said. "We'll probably have several things to discuss."

"Fair enough", clone-Naruto grinned, as they both returned to the library.

* * *

Harry was sat in the common room, across from Ron and Hermione. It was just after midnight, and he had returned from another detention with Umbridge, to find Hermione waiting with something to help his hand. He settled in an armchair, his hand in the bowl of yellow liquid, while they once again tried to convince him to tell someone about the detentions. Harry refused, reasoning that the staff member who he told would then only get in trouble themselves. Hermione then changed the topic, suggesting that they do it themselves:

"Do what ourselves?" Harry asked suspiciously, still floating his hand in the essence of Murtlap tentacles.

"Well – learn Defence Against the Dark Arts ourselves", Hermione responded. "After all, we need to prepare ourselves, like Harry said in Umbridge's first lesson, for what's waiting for us out there. It's about making sure we really can defend ourselves. If we don't learn anything for a whole year –"

"We can't do much by ourselves", Ron said in a defeated voice. "I mean, all right, we can go and look jinxes up in the library and try to practise them, I suppose –"

"No, I agree, we've gone past the stage where we can just learn things out of books", Hermione said. "We need a teacher, a proper one, who can show us how to use the spells and correct us if we're going wrong."

"If you're talking about Lupin..." Harry began.

"No, no, I'm not talking about Lupin", Hermione interrupted. "He's too busy with the Order and, anyway, the most we could see him is during Hogsmeade weekends and that's not nearly enough. I'm talking about _you_, Harry."

"About me what?" Harry asked in confusion.

"I'm talking about _you_ teaching us Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Harry stared at her, his disbelief increasing when Ron voiced his agreement with Hermione. He tried to argue against them, pointing out that he wouldn't be good enough, but it was clear that they weren't going to listen to him, especially when they started listing all the times he had faced Voldemort or other powerful enemies. He tried to point out that it was only luck, _after all, _he thought, _before I started practising with Draco, I barely knew anything I could use in a real fight against Voldemort. The next time he attacks, I should be able to do more, rather than just rely on luck to get me through it, but all the other times it's only been out of chance that I even survived._ He sighed to himself, _I guess as a Gryffindor I should probably get angry at them for telling me what to do, like they always do, especially as they seem to think they know so much more than me – when they don't._

"Don't sit there grinning like you know better than I do, I was there wasn't I?" Harry said, his originally fake anger becoming real as they continued to smirk at him like they actually knew what it was like to fight a real battle. "I didn't get through any of that because I was brilliant at Defence Against the Dark Arts, I got through it all because – because help came at the right time, or because I guessed right – but I didn't have a clue what I was doing – STOP LAUGHING!" he shouted, standing up so quickly that he smashed the bowl of Murtlap essence on the floor. Hermione and Ron's smiles vanished. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE! You – neither of you – you've never had to face him, have you? You think it's just memorising a bunch of spells and throwing them at him, like you're in a class or something? The whole time you're sure you know there's nothing between you and dying except your own – your own brain or guts or whatever – like you can think straight when you know you're about a nanosecond from being murdered, or tortured, or watching your friends die – they've never taught us that in their classes, what it's like to deal with things like that – and you two sit there acting like I'm a clever little boy to be standing here alive, like Diggory was stupid, like he messed up – you just don't get it, that could just as easily have been me, it would have been if Voldemort hadn't needed me –"

"We weren't saying anything like that, mate", Ron said looking aghast. "We weren't having a go at Diggory, we didn't – you've got the wrong end of the –" he broke off, looking helplessly at Hermione.

"Harry," Hermione added timidly, "don't you see? This...this is exactly why we need you..we need to know what it's r-really like...facing him...facing V-Voldemort." It was the first time she had ever said Voldemort's name, and Harry forced himself to calm down. _It was supposed to be pretend anger, _he thought, _as Gryffindors are supposed to get angry easily and be rash – why is it so hard for me to be a Gryffindor? Perhaps I should have just let the hat put me in Slytherin...although, some of that was real anger, and regardless of what the two of them say, part of them just thinks that they can relate to my situation, when they can't._

"Well...think about it, please?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded, not paying much attention, while Hermione excused herself to go to bed. Ron went up to bed as well, while Harry just sat there. He fixed the bowl which he had smashed, but the Murtlap essence couldn't be returned to the bowl. He sighed to himself, _Draco and I are training ourselves, partly from books and partly from each other, and we have agreed to only meet on Saturday nights for that, due to the shinobi patrolling, and the burdens of homework for this school year. I don't know if I want to teach others as well, especially as I can't teach them the sort of things that we learn – Hermione and Ron will consider the things Draco and I learn to be too dark, especially as the next book we were going to start practising from is only in the Restricted Section of the library, although the Room of Requirement has provided us a copy. I guess I could go over what we should have learned up to and including fifth year level, maybe even the Patronus, but with all the homework, and detentions, I don't know if I'll have time. I'll have to come up with a reason if I want Hermione to give up on the idea, and I don't know if I can, so I might just get roped into doing it anyway. _He sighed again, standing up and following Ron up to the boys' dorm. _Oh well, I guess I'll just wait until she brings it up again, and think about what I should do in the meantime._

* * *

**A/N - Please read and review**

**Next Chapter - Sasuke and Suigetsu leave for their mission and both Sasuke and Naruto find out that their relationship isn't as secret as they thought.**


	6. 6 - First Time

Normal Text

_Thoughts_

**_Flashback_**

**Thoughts within a flashback**

SUMMARY: Albus hires shinobi to protect Harry (and Hogwarts) during Harry's fifth year. However, Harry has a secret that not even he knows about.

WARNINGS: SasuNaru, HarryxDraco, Drarry, SuiKarin

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or Naruto, they are the property of J. K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto respectively

**A/N - Thanks to everyone who favourited and/or followed this story and/or me and to the reviews! I have 30 favourites and over 50 followers for this story already!**

* * *

Sasuke and Suigetsu arrived at the gate to Konoha together, just after 11am. As Tsunade had predicted, several of the elders had turned up to see them off on their mission, as a silent reminder that Sasuke had to be careful how he behaved. However, as this was a diplomatic mission to an allied country, their presence could be explained away by that, _and they likely would use that as an excuse,_ Sasuke thought.

"Good morning", Tsunade said, sounding annoyed – although Sasuke got the feeling that it was the elders at whom she was annoyed rather than at him and Suigetsu for their slight tardiness. "Now then, you have all been briefed on this mission, and you know how important it is", she said, looking pointedly at Sasuke. "So, good luck!" With that she dismissed them. Sasuke sighed to himself, hoping that the mission wouldn't last too long and he could join Naruto soon, as he was missing his dobe.

"Well then, let's go!" a purple-haired woman said, quite cheerfully. Standing beside Sasuke, Suigetsu groaned at her cheeriness. Sasuke knew that Suigetsu didn't want to be here, but it was somewhat necessary for him to be, as he would be joining Sasuke on the mission to Britain – and Sasuke was determined that he himself would go, and that this mission must therefore go well.

As they walked out of the village, heading south-west, Sasuke walked behind his three companions. Suigetsu was slightly in front of him, and also on the mission were Sai and Anko – according to Tsunade, it would be better given his 'temper' as she put it, to have Sasuke go on the mission with people he knew, and his last mission above D-rank had been with Sai, Anko and Yamato. Yamato had exerted himself a lot in the rebuilding efforts, using his wood-style to help them rebuild the village quickly, so Tsunade had decided on sending Sai and Anko, as well as Suigetsu.

They walked for several minutes, before Sai hung back slightly, letting Suigetsu walk ahead of him so that he could talk to Sasuke. Sasuke ignored him for a while, before Sai spoke:

"So, is Naruto dickless then?"

"What?" Sasuke asked, surprised.

"Oh, nothing, it's just something I called him, and I was wondering if he got so testy about it because it was true. So is it?"

"What makes you think I would know?" Sasuke asked, trying to sound incredulous – _did he know?_ Sasuke thought to himself. _Naruto and I have tried to be so careful, we've tried to hide our relationship, as we know what could happen if someone found out. The elders would stop trusting him, people would probably try to take away the title of 'Hokage' from him, and people would wonder if that was the reason I came back...although, Naruto was part of the reason, just not all of it._

"I just thought, you know, you were on the same team for quite a while, so you might have noticed."

"Why would I have noticed?!" Sasuke asked, getting louder. He had stopped walking by this point and Sai turned to face him, wearing the same inane grin he normally wore. The other two ahead of them stopped as well, listening to their conversation.

"You spent a lot of time with him, I guess, especially with your other team members being a girl and your sensei. And you've been around him a lot since you came back as well."

Ahead of them, Anko was listening closely. _So, _she thought, _Sasuke and Naruto have been getting closer? Well, they both deserve someone, and Naruto has certainly been a lot happier since Sasuke returned – although he never lost his good mood, if you looked close enough, you could tell that he was hiding certain feelings beneath his cheerful exterior._

"That doesn't mean anything!" Sasuke said from behind her, growing increasingly annoyed if the tone of his voice was anything to go by.

"Sai, Sasuke!" she called to them. "Don't fall back, we should keep together! Come, on, let's go!"

"Coming!" Sai called back to her, abandoning his questions and walking ahead to join Anko and Suigetsu.

Sasuke stared at Sai's back for a moment, before also going to catch up with the others. _This could be bad, _Sasuke thought to himself, _Naruto and I didn't want anyone to know, yet it seems like he does...unless he really was just questioning me about the truth behind some stupid nickname he gave Naruto when they were on a team together before. I shouldn't have gotten annoyed like that, I might have given something away...although, I could just play it off as being annoyed that Sai was suggesting we were together, when that dobe is...well, I'll just say the opposite of what I think, or turn the question around and ask Sai why he thought Naruto was 'dickless' in the first place. I haven't got a way to contact Naruto anyway, even if I would rather be with him right now, so I'll just have to figure something out. No-one can know about us, not yet anyway, and we've managed to keep it a secret from everyone else so far._

* * *

It was evening, and the four shinobi had once again gathered in their quarters, discussing the recent events before sending another update to Tsunade, while their clones patrolled the castle.

"Well, we know for sure now that the Ministry is doing much more than they did in previous years", Naruto began. "Especially with this 'High Inquisitor' stuff."

"I agree", Neji said. "I saw an inspection she performed on Professor McGonagall. It didn't seem as though Professor Umbridge particularly cared for Professor McGonagall's reaction though – she didn't allow Professor Umbridge to interrupt her frequently, and afterwards only answered how long she had been working there."

"It seems stupid that this woman, who has never been involved in education – at least as far as we can tell – is allowed to decide who is or isn't good enough to teach at the school. Surely Dumbledore-san can figure that out for himself?" Tenten asked.

"It just confirms what we and the students already suspected", Kakashi responded. "The government is interfering in the school. And I doubt our presence helps much, as we pose an obvious political threat to the government leaders with Dumbledore as our employer."

"It would probably be best for us to avoid politics if possible", Naruto mused. "We don't really understand enough about their world yet, and even if we did, our mission is to protect the school, not deal with political rivalries."

"The problem is that our presence acknowledges the existence of a threat which the government denies", Neji said. "We are involved in politics in at least a minor way due to that fact."

"Well, we should avoid as much else to do with politics as possible, and just continue our patrols", Naruto said. "We'll probably be seeing several of these inspections. I saw Umbridge inspect that weird Divination teacher, and Umbridge definitely seemed to dislike her, as the teacher couldn't come up with any sort of prediction that seemed to be worth anything."

"It's an unusual subject, learning how to see the future", Tenten said. "I would have thought it would be an interesting thing to observe."

"I thought so too," Naruto agreed, "but the students don't seem to take it seriously, and she either doesn't know or doesn't care that they spend most of her lessons making up random predictions and experiences."

"The students don't seem to be taking anything seriously at the moment, perhaps as they are so well protected in this school", Kakashi said. "I sometimes wonder if we should offer to teach them how to fight, just to see how many of them would be able to do even some basic drills without complaining", he added jokingly.

"That might not be such a bad idea", Naruto considered. "After all, it's not like Umbridge-san is teaching them anything useful in their 'defence' classes."

"I was only joking", Kakashi said.

"I know, but we could offer, right?" Naruto responded. "Besides, can you imagine the look on Umbridge-san's face if we taught them some weapons training or something?"

"He has a point", Tenten agreed eagerly. "After all, I miss my weapons..."

"You still have them all in your room," Neji said, "as well as in the storage scroll you always carry."

"I know, but it's not the same", Tenten whined.

"I don't believe that it would be the best idea to teach the students such things, Hokage-sama", Neji said.

"Fair enough. So, have you two managed to read much more about their world?" Naruto asked, addressing Kakashi and Neji.

"From what I have determined so far," Neji began, "the newspaper is merely a tool of propaganda which reports anything which will help it to sell as many copies as possible. Despite evidence for Voldemort-dono's return, the writers have spent the few months since the event attempting to convince all their readers that it is some sort of hoax, and that Potter-san and Dumbledore-san are liars. Furthermore, their 'sources' seem heavily biased towards opposing Dumbledore-san, and are mostly drawn from Ministry workers or from 'concerned parents'. It appears that the writers are merely finding people to back up their stories regardless of their validity, and reporting whatsoever the Ministry or the Minister deems appropriate."

"That doesn't seem very helpful", Kakashi said. "If all their news is coming from a biased source, how are people supposed to know what's really happening? Especially the students, as they are pretty isolated up here."

"I guess that's the point", Tenten interjected. "After all, if there is nowhere else to get news, people will be continuously bombarded with pieces of propaganda until, eventually, they start to agree with it."

"Right then", Naruto said, bringing their meeting to a close, as he was getting tired. "I will give Tsunade-baa-chan a brief summary of what's been going on, and then she can pass it along to the other four who will be coming, so that they know what's going on too."

"Didn't her reply from last time say that Sasuke and Suigetsu were going to be given a mission while Gai and Lee were still recovering?" Tenten asked.

"Yeah", Naruto replied. "So it will be a while before they arrive."

"Don't look so upset, Hokage-kun", Kakashi said as he stood up to leave, Tenten moving to go with him. "I'm sure Sasuke-kun won't find anyone else while you're not around."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Naruto almost shouted, blushing bright red. Tenten and Neji exchanged glances – it was clear that Naruto and Sasuke had some sort of secret, which Kakashi was aware of, and Naruto didn't want known. _To be honest,_ Tenten thought, _Naruto and Sasuke are kidding themselves if they really think their relationship is a secret, I'd be surprised if the whole village doesn't know, after all, they are way too close to just be friends._ She left their quarters, waiting for Kakashi outside, while Neji retired to bed, as Kakashi elaborated:

"It means that you shouldn't worry, Sasuke will still want to be with you when he arrives."

"How – how do you know?" Naruto asked.

"You two aren't good at keeping secrets. Besides, I was your sensei, I do know how the two of you normally act. I've known since you were genin that you had the hots for each other."

"That's one way of putting it", Naruto grumbled. Kakashi sighed and turned to leave.

"I'm serious though, Naruto", he said, his back to Naruto. "Sasuke really does care about you, and it's not like he's going to find anyone else in... where is his mission to, exactly?"

"Suna."

"Well, there you go then. You should be more worried about how he will act towards Gaara than if he'll forget about you, especially given his team – didn't you say Sai would be there? Sasuke will have to deal with Sai and Suigetsu, and then be diplomatic towards the Kazekage, or he won't be able to come here...that's what you should be worrying about." Kakashi then left their quarters, leaving Naruto alone with his thoughts. _I really hope Sasuke does behave, _Naruto thought. _Besides, how bad can being alone with Sai and Suigetsu be?_

* * *

Sasuke groaned internally as he settled on his bed for the night inside the tent. Sai and Suigetsu had – _purposefully, _he thought – set up their bedspreads on each side of the tent, forcing him to have to sleep between the two of them. Anko had elected to sleep outside, in case they were attacked – although they were only carrying a letter to Suna for the Kazekage, they still had to be prepared for the possibility of an attack. Anko was just settling down for the night, while Sai and Suigetsu were off in the trees, Suigetsu having gone to a nearby river to refill the cup he had with him. Sasuke didn't have long to wait before the other two guys joined him in the tent and laid down on either side of him, Suigetsu drinking from his cup.

"Goodnight", Sasuke said to the two of them once the tent was closed. He shut his eyes, not noticing the identical grins on the faces of the other two.

"You know how earlier I asked if Naruto was actually dickless?" Sai asked.

"What about it?" Sasuke responded, opening his eyes and gritting his teeth.

"Well, I guess he can't be, right, or it wouldn't be any fun."

"What wouldn't be any fun?" Sasuke asked, somewhat worried about the answer.

"Sex", Sai stated plainly.

"What would make you think that –"

"Oh, give it a rest", Suigetsu interrupted. "It's obvious to anyone who's around you for more than five seconds that you're sleeping together. Although", he continued, now looking at Sai, "technically Naruto could be dickless, as I doubt Sasuke is the uke."

"You're probably right, there", Sai agreed. "Unless Sasuke is the uke, at least sometimes."

"I guess he could be", Suigetsu mused.

"I'm still here, you know", Sasuke muttered.

"You are here, aren't you?" Sai said. "In that case, why don't you tell us?"

"Tell you what?" Sasuke growled.

"Tell us who is uke and who is seme", Suigetsu replied for both of them. Sai nodded his agreement, before looking at Sasuke with his usual smile.

"What makes you think we're together?"

"Well, then, we'll make it easy for you", Suigetsu said. "Are you and Naruto sleeping together, yes or no? And don't try to argue your way out of answering, just say 'yes' or 'no'."

"I –"

" 'Yes' or 'no'," Suigetsu repeated. Sasuke looked between the two grinning men on either side of him, not knowing what to say. _I don't want to admit it,_ he thought, _but I don't want to deny it outright either...I don't really know what our relationship is, if what we have could even be called a relationship, but I just don't want to deny it. I probably have to answer this question though._

"None of your business", Sasuke stated firmly, closing his eyes again.

"So 'yes' then", Sai said. Sasuke ignored him.

"Come on, Sasuke, is it really that bad to admit you and Naruto are sleeping together?" Suigetsu asked. Sasuke ignored him as well, rolling onto one side and trying to look like he was attempting to fall asleep.

"Oh well, I guess we'll ask you in the morning then", Sai said. Sasuke could hear the smile in his voice as Sai continued: "After all, our mission will probably take a while once we get to Suna, so we'll have plenty more opportunities to discuss this. And we're still a day or so away, at least. Anyway, goodnight."

Sasuke's groan was almost audible as he realised that Sai was correct, it would take them a few weeks, at least, to complete their mission. He just had to find ways to distract them both – if Anko knew, then she didn't care, and probably wouldn't if she found out either – so he just had to come up with methods which he could use to distract Sai and Suigetsu and get them thinking about something else. It only took him a moment to come up with a way to distract Suigetsu, but he didn't see the point in implementing his plan until he had something to occupy Sai's attention as well, or Sai would only get Suigetsu thinking about his and Naruto's relationship again.

As the two others fell asleep on either side of him, Sasuke found his thoughts drifting to Naruto, as they had been more and more ever since he returned to the village. Their relationship had been slow at first, what with Sasuke's probation, and then Naruto off doing sage training, and then the rebuilding of the village, but they had been together for some time on various occasions. Like their first 'date' if it could really be called that. The rebuilding of the village was coming along, Sasuke's probation was technically over – although the elders didn't think it should be – and Naruto had been named the Rokudaime Hokage but not officially inaugurated yet. Sasuke was going to be given another D-rank mission – apparently he had to take on such a low ranked mission as the village needed the money and was low on manpower. So, Naruto decided to use the same excuses as the elders came up with so that he could accompany Sasuke, especially as, once he was officially named as Hokage, he could only go on higher profile missions, even as an active Hokage.

_**"For goodness sake, dobe, you can't just grab all the plants."**_

_**"Why not, teme?!" Naruto shouted, almost waist deep in the swamp. Sasuke was further towards the dry land, only knee-deep in the thick swamp, but it still was far from pleasant.**_

_**"We're only supposed to be picking this medical herb, see?" Sasuke called to him, holding up his handful. "We can't just pick all the plants in this swamp, besides, it will take all day, and some of these plants are poisonous."**_

_**"What?" Naruto asked in shock, dropping all the plants he was holding. Sasuke sighed.**_

_**"Only some of them are poisonous, dobe, and only if you eat them or get them in your bloodstream somehow."**_

_**"Yeah, well...what of the plant cuts me and gets in the wound?" Naruto asked, getting increasingly worried. In Sasuke's mind, Naruto was picturing the plant pulling a kunai and cutting him with it before jumping inside. He shook his head to clear it of those thoughts, as Naruto trudged back through the swamp towards him.**_

_**"Here," Sasuke said, "help me with these, this whole lot are the ones we need." He motioned to a crop of the same plant. Naruto leaned down to help Sasuke, and they soon picked all of the crop in front of them.**_

_**The sky above them darkened ominously, storm clouds clearly approaching. Sasuke and Naruto trudged back to the dry land, pulling their legs out of the thick mud. They gathered up all the herbs into a large basket, which had been provided by their employer.**_

_**"At least it's full", Naruto said. "So we don't have to go back out into the mud again, right?" He looked at Sasuke, who didn't answer, just stared back at Naruto. "What is it?" Naruto asked. "Is something the matter?" Sasuke didn't reply, just stepped closer and pulled Naruto against him, crushing their lips together in a bruising kiss. For a moment it seemed like Naruto would push him away, but he didn't, instead wrapping his arms around Sasuke's neck and pressing himself against the taller boy, eagerly opening his mouth when Sasuke swiped his tongue across it. They continued for a moment before pulling back from each other when a thunder-strike sounded from somewhere nearby.**_

_**"We should take these to...uh...what was her name, again?" Naruto asked breathlessly. Sasuke smirked at the reaction he had caused. He ignored Naruto's question, instead grasping one of the handles of the large basket, indicating that Naruto should grab the other. They carried the basket to the nearby house of the owner of the land, who was also their employer, handing it over to her as she gave them their payment.**_

_**"Thank you so much", she said. Before either Naruto or Sasuke could respond, there was another thunder-strike, and rain started pouring down over them.**_

_**"Oh dear", she said. "Well at least it will help you clean the mud off. If you like, you can wait in that barn for a bit – I expect it will stop soon, there's blue sky not far off." She indicated some patches of blue sky in the distance, in the direction of Konoha, which was only around an hour's walk away. Sasuke was about to decline, as the rain would clean them off and it wasn't too far, but before he could Naruto spoke:**_

_**"Thanks, that would be great. We won't be long, we'll just let the rain slow down for a bit, and we'll be sure to close up the barn behind us."**_

_**She smiled and closed the door as Naruto practically pulled Sasuke in the direction of the barn.**_

_**"Dobe, it's not that far to Konoha, and we can get clean on the way..."**_

_**"Look down", Naruto said. "We're already clean because of the force of the rain, and we won't be able to move through the forest that quickly as the rain will get in our faces. So we may as well wait for a little while." Sasuke didn't answer, knowing that when Naruto was like this, the matter was already decided, and there was really no point in arguing, as Naruto could just point out that... "And", Naruto continued. "I am the Hokage now, so I can just order you to do what I** **say." **_**I knew he was going to say that,**_** Sasuke thought, **_**he's been doing it several times lately, mostly to me. Well then, if he wants to stick around, we will, and I'll show him that he's not always in charge...**

_**Naruto opened the door of the barn and went inside. Sasuke followed and Naruto closed the door behind them. Before Naruto could turn around he was pressed up against the door, Sasuke's body pressed against him.**_

_**"You always pull that 'Hokage' thing lately, Naruto", he whispered into Naruto's ear. Naruto groaned in response as Sasuke flipped him round, pressing Naruto's back against the closed door and kissing him. Naruto responded just as enthusiastically as he had down by the swamp, and much quicker this time. Sasuke took control of the kiss, and unzipped Naruto's jacket, pushing it down Naruto's arms and then running his hands up under Naruto's shirt to pinch at his nipples.**_

_**"Ah", Naruto groaned. "Sas-Sasuke, please..."**_

_**"Now, Naruto, I'm going to show you that you're not always the one in charge, okay?" Naruto didn't respond, lost in the pleasure, his head leant back against the door and his eyes closed. Sasuke continued: "Come on, now, you have to answer, or I won't know if you want me to continue or not." Naruto still didn't respond, so Sasuke pulled back, taking off some of his wet clothes as he did so.**_

_**Naruto tried to lean forwards again, wanting Sasuke to continue touching him, but Sasuke had stepped too far away. Naruto opened his eyes to see Sasuke standing a few feet in front of him, shirtless, and still dripping with water from the rain. He was hanging his shirt from an old nail in the wall of the barn. Naruto removed his clothes and hung them on some other nails, as Sasuke removed his lower clothing.**_

_**"I guess that might help it dry out a bit, huh?" Naruto asked. "Maybe you could do a fire jutsu or something to dry it off-umph!" he was interrupted by Sasuke kissing him again, walking Naruto back towards the back of the barn, where there some piles of hay were. He pushed Naruto down, then laid down on top of him, pressing their still wet bodies together, and kissing Naruto again, even more enthusiastically, if that were possible. He could feel Naruto hardening beneath him, and ground himself down, trying to relieve some of the pressure he was feeling. Both of them moaned at this action, and Naruto spread his legs, indicating for Sasuke to go further.**_

_**"Naruto", Sasuke said, pulling back to look at him. "I –"**_

_**"You don't have to say it", Naruto interrupted. "I already know that you care about me, and we're not really children anymore, not after everything we've been through. And yeah, this is my first time, but I know it's yours as well, and if you're okay with it then so am I. Now shut up and get on with it."**_

_**"Is that an order, Hokage-sama?" Sasuke teased. Naruto groaned at the title. **_**Hmm,**_** Sasuke thought, **_**that's the first time I've called him that – perhaps the first time anyone's called him that. I hope it is the first time anyone's called him that, as now, every time anyone uses his title, he'll remember this...**

_**Sasuke pressed his lips against Naruto's collarbone, kissing and biting marks into Naruto's body. He continued downwards, and ran his fingers over Naruto's hole. Naruto moaned in anticipation, and Sasuke grinned to himself as he wetted three of his fingers, before pressing one inside Naruto's tight entrance. Naruto panted as Sasuke worked his finger in and out, then added a second and a third, thrusting his fingers in and out of Naruto's willing body.**_

_**"Nngh, Sasuke, no more, please, I want – ah! – I want you inside already!"**_

_**Hearing Naruto say that, along with his own growing need, Sasuke complied, spitting onto his hand and using it to lubricate himself, before thrusting inside. Once he was all the way in, he stopped, waiting for Naruto to get used to the intrusion.**_

_**"Just move, teme, I'm not going to break!" Naruto moaned, wrapping his leg's around Sasuke's waist and trying to encourage Sasuke to start thrusting. Hearing Naruto's voice thick with need, Sasuke couldn't contain his moan, and began thrusting himself in and out. Naruto pushed himself against Sasuke on every thrust, and it wasn't long before both of them were nearing completion. Sasuke pulled Naruto up so that he was practically sitting on Sasuke's lap, and continued to thrust, while Naruto moved up and down.**_

_**"So close, Naruto", Sasuke grunted into Naruto's ear.**_

_**"Me too", Naruto moaned. "I can't hold..." He interrupted himself by moaning deeply as Sasuke's hand found it's way to his cock, jerking it in time with Sasuke's thrusts. Naruto bit into Sasuke's shoulder to stifle his last moan as he came over Sasuke's hand and stomach, while Sasuke grunted into Naruto's ear as he finished inside him, before pulling out. They both flopped down onto the hay-covered floor.**_

_**"That was..." Naruto said, unsure how to finish his sentence.**_

_**"Hn", Sasuke said, responding in his usual manner.**_

_**"Do you think you could dry off our clothes?" Naruto asked. "I'm getting kinda cold." Sasuke stood up, stretching himself out and going over to where their clothes were hanging from some hooks. He shook them, before stepping back and using a small fireball jutsu to heat up the area around them. The clothes dried off quickly, and Sasuke picked them off the hooks, going over to where Naruto was still lying on the ground. He pulled out an article of clothing from the pile and used it to wipe the come off Naruto's stomach and thighs, where it was dripping out of his hole. Naruto moaned softly as Sasuke swiped the cloth over his abused hole.**_

_**"Better?"**_

_**"I'm not sure", Naruto replied, sitting up. "I like the idea of your come inside me all the way back to the village." Sasuke forced himself not to moan at that comment, before dressing himself.**_

_**"We should go, the village will be expecting us back soon. Besides, I think the rain's almost stopped." Sasuke pulled his now dry clothes back on, before turning to Naruto, who was still lying on the floor naked.**_

_**"That's good", Naruto said, stretching and standing up, before turning to his pile of clothes. "Teme! You used my underwear to wipe off the come!"**_

_**"Oh, sorry", Sasuke replied, smirking. "I guess you'll just have to walk back to Konoha without any."**_

_**"I'm going to get you for this, teme!" Naruto said, lunging for Sasuke. Sasuke easily sidestepped, and Naruto fell to the floor, still grumbling to himself. Sasuke reached out a hand, which Naruto grudgingly accepted, and pulled Naruto to his feet and into a hug.**_

_**"You've already got me", Sasuke whispered in Naruto's ear, before releasing him to head for the door to the barn. "Now hurry up and get dressed, or I'll leave without you, dobe", he said. Naruto pulled on his clothes, and stuffed his probably ruined pair of underpants into a pocket, before following Sasuke out of the barn and back to the village.**_

Sasuke groaned – his thoughts had led to a slight, ahem...problem in his pants. He didn't want to do anything about it in here, in case Sai and Suigetsu woke up – _I'd never hear the end of it, _he thought. He tried to ignore it, but found that he couldn't, and, after checking the other two were still asleep, pushed his hand down his pants and quickly finished himself off, thoughts of his and Naruto's first time still running through his brain. He pulled a cloth from his pack and wiped off his hand, figuring he could use an excuse to go and wash the cloth in the morning, before leaning back to go to sleep, falling into Naruto-filled dreams.

* * *

After spending an uncomfortable night sharing a tent with Sai and Suigetsu, Sasuke was once again stuck with them asking him annoying questions.

"So, Sasuke," Sai began, "you never actually told us who is the uke and who is the seme? So is Naruto the uke? You really should tell us."

"Why should I tell you?" Sasuke growled. "It's none of your business."

"Sorry, I guess you're testy as you didn't get to wake up with Naruto", Sai apologised. Sasuke ignored him, instead staring ahead at where Anko was walking in front of them. She was acting unaware of the situation, but Sasuke realised that she was still close enough to be able to hear them.

"Can we take a break?" Suigetsu asked. "I'm kinda tired."

"Well," Anko began, holding back to talk to them, "it's around lunchtime anyway, and there's a river just over there, so why don't we stop for a break and take the opportunity to get some water. We will be crossing the border into Suna later today, so we should make sure we have enough water with us." Suigetsu groaned again, not particularly enjoying the idea of wandering through the desert. Anko left the three of them to go and fetch herself some water, sitting by the river. Sai used this opportunity to continue:

"You know, Sasuke, I really don't think _you_ should be carrying the message for the Kazekage."

"And why is that?"

"Because it might get dirty", Sai responded.

"Dirty how?" Sasuke asked.

"By you thinking such dirty thoughts about Naruto."

"What makes you think that I'm thinking dirty thoughts about Naruto?"

"Because you were last night – I woke up and heard you moaning his name in your sleep, and it sounded like a dirty dream based on your moans. Incidentally", Sai continued, ignoring Sasuke's glare, "it also sounded like you were the uke."

"Really?" Suigetsu put in, taking part in the conversation now. "I would not have thought Sasuke would let anyone do that to him, even Naruto."

"Well, he was moaning things like 'more' and 'faster', so even if he was seme, he clearly wasn't in charge of the situation." Rather than respond, Sasuke walked away from the two of them, who continued to discuss his supposed sex dreams, and joined Anko by the river, washing the cloth he had dirtied the previous night and then wiping his face, to make it seem as though he had merely wetted the cloth for that purpose. He leant against a nearby tree, taking some food rations out of his pack. _I need to think of a way to distract Sai, _he thought, _as I already know how I can move Suigetsu's attention away from me and Naruto. But Sai is so difficult to read, and I don't know what would affect him, given his lack of emotions, except...wait, that might just work!_

"Sasuke!" Anko called, interrupting him in his thoughts. "We should keep moving, as we will probably have to rest a lot, especially as Suigetsu is with us –"

"Hey!" Suigetsu said, although the others ignored him.

"– and either way we will probably be slower crossing the desert", Anko continued, ignoring Suigestu's interruption. "So we should get going, if you're done?"

"Yeah, I'm definitely good to go", Sasuke said, smirking.

Suigetsu looked at Sasuke's smirk, and, for the first time since they had left for this mission, he got worried. He, along with Sai, had been teasing Sasuke, and Sasuke was still a vengeful person – _I get the feeling that our teasing is going to rebound on us, _Suigetsu thought. _Based on Sasuke's look just now, he has just figured out a way to get to both of us. I'll warn Sai, when Sasuke's not around later, that we should both expect Sasuke to do something which would get to us. Also, if Sasuke has come up with a plan, he may focus on it to avoid being affected by our questions and remarks, until he can implement his plan...whatever he's come up with, we're screwed._

* * *

**A/N - Please read and review**

**Next Chapter - Sasuke and his team arrive in the Sand Village, Sasuke implements his plan to distract Sai and Suigetsu and the meeting in the Hog's Head for Dumbledore's Army.**


	7. 7 - Sasuke's Plan

Normal Text

_Thoughts_

**_Flashback_**

**Thoughts within a flashback**

SUMMARY: Albus hires shinobi to protect Harry (and Hogwarts) during Harry's fifth year. However, Harry has a secret that not even he knows about.

WARNINGS: SasuNaru, HarryxDraco, Drarry, SuiKarin

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or Naruto, they are the property of J. K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto respectively

**A/N - Thanks to everyone who favourited and/or followed this story and/or me and to the reviews! I now have 33 favourites and over 60 followers for this story already!**

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**Sorry for the late update but unfortunately I'm in the middle of my exams at the moment. I'll try to keep updating as soon as possible!**

* * *

It had been ten days since Sasuke, Suigetsu, Sai and Anko had arrived in Suna. Once they arrived, they found out that they would have to wait there for a few weeks, so Gaara had suggested they pass the time by helping with guard duties. Sasuke and Sai did theirs during the daytime, while Anko and Suigetsu did theirs at night. It was evening now, and Sasuke had just returned, and found their main living area empty for once. He took advantage of the silence to lie on the couch, and think about his plan to distract Sai and Suigetsu from questioning him about his relationship with Naruto. He had a fairly good idea of how to distract Sai now, which would also remove the problem he had with Gaara, which he had realised when they first arrived in Suna...

_**After travelling for several days, Sasuke, Sai, Suigetsu and Anko arrived at the Sand Village. They were escorted to see the Kazekage by Temari, and Anko handed him the message which they had brought. Gaara opened it and read it.**_

_**"The Godaime Hokage is requesting copies of documents relating to our alliance, as well as some other documents which we have copies of, as the Leaf's were destroyed in the recent attack by the Akatsuki member Pein. That will take a few weeks, so I will provide you with quarters." He stood from behind the desk and handed the message to Temari, who then left, presumably to have the copies started. Gaara led the four Leaf shinobi through the building, until they arrived at a door. Inside was a spacious sitting area, with four bedrooms off it, each with its own bathroom.**_

_**"Thank you, Kazekage-sama", Anko said.**_

_**"I understand that you may get bored, and we could always do with more people to help with our guard duties. You would only have to stand on the walls and watch for any incoming attack."**_

_**"That sounds fine, after all, as you say, we may get bored if we just sat around your village waiting. It also wouldn't give a very good impression of our village if we did nothing but laze around while we're here", Anko added.**_

_**"I don't think it would be that good for me to stand out in the sun all day", Suigetsu complained.**_

_**"Well, you can do night-time duties, if that would be easier?" Gaara suggested. "I will leave it up to you."**_

_**"Thank you", Suigetsu said, before going into one of the bedrooms to lie down.**_

_**"Sorry", Anko said, "he's not that good in the desert but we didn't have many people to choose from for this mission", she explained.**_

_**"Do not worry about it, I'm sure you all would like to rest anyway. I also wanted to ask you about Naruto – I am aware he is on a mission to a country outside the shinobi continent, called Britain, and I was curious how he was getting on."**_

_**"I'm afraid we don't know that much either", Anko apologised, excusing herself into another of the bedrooms. Sai did so as well and Gaara went to leave.**_

_**"He's fine", Sasuke said. Gaara looked at him.**_

_**"Excuse me?"**_

_**"Naruto. He's fine. If he wasn't we'd have heard about it. Tsunade-sama is getting messages from him, but she isn't sharing them with us, at least not yet. Why are you so worried about him anyway?"**_

_**"Naruto is...special to me", Gaara said, seeming somewhat uncomfortable with what he was saying, before excusing himself and leaving Sasuke alone.**_

**So, that's it? _Sasuke thought._ He wants Naruto?! Well, Naruto is mine, I won't let him have my Naruto. I'll just have to find a way to distract him, as I can't just tell him about mine and Naruto's relationship. I'll just have to think of a way to distract him as well as Sai...wait...**

Lying on his bed, Sasuke remembered that it was at that point that he realised a way to distract both Sai and Gaara, which, added to his idea to distract Suigetsu, would stop his two teammates from making comments about Naruto and would also keep Gaara away from his Naruto. _I'll start my plan tomorrow, _Sasuke thought, _and then I'll get some peace._

* * *

"I think we may have to use the actual curse", Draco said. He was sitting beside Harry, at the table in their usual room in the Room of Requirement. The two of them had a few books piled up on the table, and one open in front of them, which they were both looking at.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"In order to defend against this curse, we use this counter-curse", Draco explained, pointing to specific sections of the page. "But there's no way to know if the counter-curse was successful unless we cast the actual curse."

"Well, the Room should protect against anyone sensing dark magic in the castle...", Harry began.

"My point was more that we'd have to be able to do the actual curse."

"You know what would be useful? A practice dummy that could throw curses for us", Harry mused. Suddenly a jet of purple-black light shot out from the arm of the practice dummy. Both Harry and Draco instinctively pushed themselves to the floor, the chairs they were sitting on clattering to the ground beside them. They stood up and looked at the dummy.

"This Room is even better than we thought it was", Draco said.

"Yeah", Harry agreed. "And it will make practising even easier!"

"There's still the problem that, if the curse hits us, we'd die."

"Not necessarily –"

"Harry the spell is called the 'Entrail-Expelling Curse'", Draco interrupted. "What exactly makes you think we could survive it?"

"Sorry for being excited", Harry grumbled sarcastically. Draco sighed and walked over to his boyfriend, pulling him into a kiss.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt or die", Draco explained when he pulled back from the kiss.

"I know", Harry responded, leaning his head against Draco's shoulder. "But you also told me that several of the Death Eaters are fond of this curse, so we need to be able to defend against it. Why don't we try the counter-curse a few times? The book says that it should form a thin purple circular shield, so when we can get the spell to do that, we can test it. Okay?"

"I suppose." Draco moved away from Harry, who then attempted the counter-curse. After several tries, Harry could only manage a small circle of light, only a few inches in diameter.

"Perhaps we should take a break", Harry sighed, frustrated – _if I'd managed to get it then I could have trained against the dummy, _Harry thought, _and now that we know we can, it would be fun to try it out._

"Come over here", Draco called to Harry, having moved to sit on the couch while Harry was thinking. Harry joined Draco on the couch and cuddled up against him.

"There was something I wanted to talk to you about", Harry said, after they had been sitting on the couch for a few minutes.

"What's that?" Draco asked.

"Ron and Hermione have this idea – they think that I should train students in Defence Against the Dark Arts as Umbridge is so useless."

"Not just useless", Draco said. Harry looked up at hearing his boyfriend's voice so annoyed. "What?" Draco asked. "Did you really think I wouldn't find out what she was doing to you? It's torture, literally – and before you start, I know that there's nothing that we can do, telling a professor would just get them fired and the torture would continue, probably worse – but...I don't like it."

"Like you said, there's nothing we can do except wait – if the Ministry were to find out...no, Draco", Harry said, seeing the look on his boyfriend's face. "We can't tell anyone in the Ministry."

"My father –"

"Would likely give her a reward for hurting _me_", Harry interrupted. "And don't go thinking that you can get a detention from her yourself or something – you have to play the devious little Slytherin as much as I have to be the stupid rash Gryffindor, so just don't."

"It was just a thought", Draco said. "Anyway, what was it that you were saying about training people in Defence?"

"Yeah, well, that was about it. Ron and Hermione think that I should teach the students."

"I take it they used your previous successes against _him_ to justify themsleves?"

"Pretty much, and I got kind of pissed at them too, when they started acting like it was intelligence that got me by, not luck, like Diggory was stupid and like they know anything about battle, an –" He was interrupted by Draco kissing him. Draco pulled back a few moments later. "Why did you...?" Harry asked.

"To stop your rant, especially when I know how annoyed you get by that sort of thing. Are you going to do it?"

"Do what?"

"Train students."

"What do you think I should do?" Harry asked.

"It really is up to you, you'd be the one doing all the work after all."

"I don't want to, not really, but I can't really see a way out of it. Ron and Hermione probably won't stop unless I agree or provide a valid reason why I can't, and homework and detentions won't be counted as valid reasons by them, and it's not like I can tell them about this", Harry said, moving his hand back and forth between the two of them, indicating that he was referring to their relationship, but in a way that Draco also understood to mean everything else they did in the Room.

"I think you're right. Besides, you don't know who will join – if you get a bunch of third years, you could teach stuff at their level. Or you could teach everything we should have done at school, and not go much further, just to give them some experience."

"That's what I was thinking", Harry said. "I also considered teaching them the Patronus, so they think that what I'm teaching them is really advanced."

"Well, you are good at teaching that particular spell", Draco said, leaning in for another kiss. Harry deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue into Draco's mouth and pulling Draco down so that the blond-haired boy was lying on top of him on the couch.

They continued to make out for several minutes, bodies pressed close together, when Draco suddenly ground himself down onto Harry. Harry broke the kiss to moan, and Draco repeated the action, their hardening lengths rubbing together through their clothes.

"Can I..." Draco began to ask.

"Just keep going", Harry moaned, wrapping his legs around Draco's waist and moving against his boyfriend. Draco leant down and kissed Harry again, their tongues wrapping around each other as they continued to rut against each other.

Not long later, Harry threw his head back and moaned. Draco realised that his boyfriend had come, and that realisation sent him over the edge as well, causing him to sink his teeth into Harry's neck to stifle his moans. He slumped against Harry, both of them breathing heavily.

"That was..." Draco said.

"Yeah", Harry agreed with his boyfriend's unfinished statement. Draco shifted his weight so that he wouldn't crush Harry and wrapped his arms around him, so that they were both cuddling each other comfortably on the couch.

After a few minutes, Harry reached out his hand and said: "Accio wand." It flew to his hand and he waved it around his and Draco's bodies, cleaning the mess that both of them had made inside their clothes. He then sat up, pulling Draco up with him.

"Can't we keep cuddling for a while longer?" Draco asked.

"No, we've already been here longer than we normally are. Come on", Harry said, standing up. He walked over to the table, ignoring the smirk that he knew would be on Draco's face (as he had been somewhat shaky on his feet when he stood up), and used his wand to return the books to their shelves. At the bottom of the pile, he found an old leather-bound book, which had no title on the cover or spine.

"What is it?" Draco asked, coming up behind him and wrapping his arms around Harry's waist.

"I'm not sure", Harry replied, instinctively leaning back into his boyfriend's embrace.

"I don't think that the Room would have given it to us if it weren't safe."

"Yeah, I guess", Harry agreed. He carefully opened the book, just in case it was booby-trapped in some way. The book was full of writing, and looked almost like a journal. The language didn't seem to be English, but when Harry sounded out the words in his head he realised what it was.

"I don't understand, it's just gibberish. Why would the Room give us this?" Draco asked.

"It's not gibberish, it's parseltongue, or at least what parseltongue would look like if you wrote it down using English letters. The book is about parselmagic, and it seems to have been written by one of Slytherin's heirs, who left a copy in the school library for his own successors – the Room has given us a copy in the same way that it provides us with copies of other books which only exist in the Hogwarts library. The only problem is that the book has a protection against that sort of copying – see?" Harry flipped through the book, which suddenly became blank after a few pages of text. "It looks like the only way to read it is to get the original copy", Harry explained.

"Which I'm guessing is in the Restricted Section of the library, so that only people looking for it could find it", Draco said.

"Yeah, and it would also test the person's ability to sneak into the Restricted Section, which would prove they were at least a Slytherin."

"Are you going to get it?" Draco asked.

"I'll go when I next have the chance – I still have a lot of homework, and Ron and Hermione are always with me while I do it, then when I go to bed afterwards I tend to fall asleep, preventing me from sneaking out. I'll get it at some point though."

"Fair enough", Draco said. "Now, how about one more kiss before we leave?" Harry happily obliged his boyfriend, returning the book to the shelf before allowing Draco to press him up against the table and kiss him again, although stopping Draco before he could continue:

"We haven't got time to do that again, fun as it was", Harry said.

"I know, but you can't blame a Slytherin for trying, right?" Draco asked. Harry smiled in response, hugging his boyfriend tightly, before crossing the room and retrieving his Cloak from it's usual place over the back of one of the armchairs.

"Come on, let's go", Harry said. Draco followed him, allowing Harry to escort him back to his own common room. He went in and got ready for bed, falling asleep with a smile on his face as he thought about all the things he could do to his boyfriend next Saturday night.

* * *

Naruto and Neji were walking down the path towards the nearby village of Hogsmeade, as were many other students. As usual, they were using genjutsu to hide their presence, and they had left clones in the castle to patrol for the safety of the few students who had remained there, especially as the first and second years were not allowed to go to Hogsmeade. Naruto had been looking around gleefully, as if he'd finally found something good. Neji resisted the urge to roll his eyes as Naruto kept pressing his face against the glass of the windows.

"Hey, Neji?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"Do you think we could undo the genjutsu and get some stuff? There's a sweet shop which looks like it probably does some good things."

"We don't have any of their money, Hokage-sama, after all, all of our living requirements are taken care of at Hogwarts, including the provision of writing implements and scrolls. We have no way of buying anything."

"Oh", Naruto sighed. _Surely he should have already known that?_ Neji thought. _Unless he wanted me to determine a method for him to buy things..._

"Hokage-sama, have you noticed that several of the students seem to have gone into that one building there, including Potter and his friends?"

"Hmm?" Naruto asked. "Oh, yeah, they're all gathering in there for some sort of meeting or something from what I've overheard." He sighed. "I guess we should go and listen in, rather than look at these things we can't have." Again Neji resisted the urge to roll his eyes – _Naruto seemed to be paying so little attention, yet he had noticed more than I had,_ Neji thought to himself._ He seems very bored in general with this mission, although, if Kakashi is correct, that may be the result of some sort of romantic relationship with someone still in the village._ "Are you coming, Neji-san?" Naruto called, snapping Neji out of his thoughts. Naruto had already moved closer to the building where many of the students had gathered, and, when a few more went in, they took the opportunity to sneak in behind them, standing at the back of the room. It was a rather dingy little place, Neji noted, but perhaps that was the intention. Everyone got themselves drinks and sat down, all looking towards Potter and his friends, particularly at Harry himself.

"Er – well – er, hi", Hermione said, nerves showing in her voice. "Well...erm...well, you know why you're here. Erm...well, Harry had the idea –" Harry shot her a sharp look, "– I mean, I had the idea that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defence Against the Dark Arts – and I mean really study it, you know, not the rubbish Umbridge is doing with us, because nobody could call that Defence Against the Dark Arts – well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands." Throughout this, Hermione's voice had become increasingly more confident, especially when she realised that the people listening were agreeing with her. "And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just in theory but doing the real spells."

"You want to pass your Defence Against the Dark Arts OWL too, though, I bet?" one of the students asked.

"Of course I do", Hermione answered immediately. "But more than that, I want to be properly trained in defence because...because Lord Voldemort is back." Several of the students reacted immediately to the name, some yelping, some spilling drinks, and all looked generally frightened. Neji sighed – _while it is laudable that they are attempting to learn how to fight and defend themselves, how much use would they be in battle when even their enemy's name causes a reaction like this?_ he asked himself.

After that, one of the students, whose name they found out was Zacharias Smith, started questioning the truth behind Voldemort's apparent return. He was soon shut up, but the conversation was still sidetracked by the list of Harry's achievements. _It seems he is quite strong,_ Neji thought to himself. _Even though he doesn't seem to want to accept his own strength, he has faced Voldemort-dono a number of times and still come out alive, although injured, while his enemy must have been defeated enough to at least flee. Furthermore, this 'Patronus' charm seems like it is impressive in some way – I will ask Kakashi-san if he has read about it, or I will do so myself._

"Yes, well", Hermione said, bringing the conversation back to the matter at hand. "Moving on...the point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?" There was a murmur of general agreement, before the conversation turned to timing, as several people were concerned about clashes with their Quidditch practices.

"Personally," one of the students began, "I think this is really important, possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our OWLs coming up! I, personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher on us at this critical period. Obviously they are in denial about the return of You-Know-Who, but to give us a teacher who is trying to actively prevent us from using defensive spells –"

"We think there's a reason for that", Hermione interrupted. "It seems that the reason she doesn't want us trained in Defence Against the Dark Arts is that she's got some...some mad idea that Dumbledore could use the students in the schools as a kind of private army. She thinks he'd mobilise us against the Ministry. And, by hiring shinobi, her ideas are apparently validated, as she believes they will be part of Dumbledore's personal fighting force."

_So that is what Umbridge believes? _Neji thought. _Even though she may be incorrect, we should be wary of Dumbledore-san's plans for us, as his motives for hiring us have never been entirely clear – we assumed there was some sort of political aspect, and there does seem to be, but perhaps that is not the only reason Dumbledore-san wanted shinobi at Hogwarts this year._

Discussions then turned to a location for the meetings, although none was actually agreed, as the students couldn't figure out the best place.

"Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere", Hermione said. "We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got a time and place for the first meeting." She rummaged in her bag and produced a parchment and quill, hesitating for a moment before continuing: "I – I think everybody should write their names down, just so we know who was here. But I also think that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So, if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge or anybody else what we're up to." While some people signed immediately, others attempted to find reasons not to, although ultimately everyone signed the parchment. After that, they all started leaving, breaking off into small groups of two or three. Naruto and Neji slipped out with them, continuing to wander around Hogsmeade for a while before returning with the majority of students later that day.

* * *

Harry and Ron stood in front of the sign that had been posted on the Gryffindor common room noticeboard:

_BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS_

_All student organisations, societies, teams, groups and clubs are henceforth disbanded._

_An organisation, society, team, group or club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students._

_Permission to reform may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge)._

_No student organisation, society, team, group or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor._

_Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an organisation, society, team, group or club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled._

_The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-four._

_Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor_

"This isn't a coincidence", Harry said, his hands forming into fists. "She knows."

"She can't", Ron responded immediately.

"There were people listening in that pub. And let's face it, we don't know how many of the people who turned up we can trust...any of them could have run off and told Umbridge..."

Hermione came down from her own dormitory and came up behind them, her eyes rapidly sliding down the notice.

"Someone must have blabbed to her!" Ron said angrily.

"They can't have", Hermione replied. "I placed a jinx on that piece of parchment we all signed – we'll know exactly who they are and they will really regret it. What will happen to them...it'll make Eloise Midgeon's acne look like a couple of cute freckles."

The three of them went down to breakfast, and were almost immediately pounced upon by various people wanting to know if they were still going to go ahead with their plan.

"We're going to do it anyway, of course", Harry said quietly, answering the various questions. He stopped them from continuing to question him, and prevented others from other houses from approaching – he didn't want Umbridge to wonder what was going on. Harry, Ron and Hermione finished their breakfast, then went off to their History of Magic lesson. It was fortunate that Professor Umbridge wasn't there, despite the fact that she hadn't yet inspected Professor Binns, as partway through the lesson Hedwig arrived on the window ledge. Harry snuck over to let her in and she hopped onto his shoulder before he retook his seat, wondering why she hadn't delivered the letter while she was in the Great Hall.

"She's hurt!" Harry whispered to Ron and Hermione, noticing that her feathers were oddly ruffled and one of her wings was at an odd angle. "Look – there's something wrong with her wing –" He made to touch her wing, but she jumped. Harry withdrew his hand. "Professor Binns", he said loudly, everyone in the class turning to look at him. "I'm not feeling well. I think I need to go to the hospital wing."

"Yes", Professor Binns said, looking surprised – as usual – that there was a room full of people in front of him. "Yes...yes, hospital wing...well, off you go, then, Perkins..."

Harry quickly left the room and peered out of a nearby window. Hagrid was still absent somewhere, and he couldn't see Professor Grubbly-Plank teaching, so he decided to go to the staff room. He tried to get the stone gargoyles guarding the staff room to let him in, claiming it was urgent, but, before they could do so, the door opened and he found himself face to face with Professor McGonagall. He soon convinced her of the importance of the situation and left Hedwig with Professor Grubbly-Plank, taking his letter with him. As he left, Professor McGonagall reminded him that the channels of communication in and out of the castle may not be secure – _as if I didn't know that already, _Harry thought, _that's why I write to Sirius in code, don't let him meet us in Hogsmeade, and he only uses the floo at midnight when the common room is empty. Even if I wanted to warn him not to use the floo, I would need to communicate with him face to face to do that, and the floo is the only safe way to speak to him directly._ He opened the letter from Sirius – _Today, same time, same place,_ was written on the small piece of parchment. He hurried off down the corridor, meeting Ron and Hermione, and the three of them headed down to Potions.

When they reached the classroom, they found that Professor Umbridge was there to inspect Snape. Hermione kept having to stop Harry from adding the wrong ingredients, as he was distracted by his attempts to listen to their conversation:

"How long have you been teaching at Hogwarts?" she asked.

"Fourteen years", Snape replied.

"You applied first for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post, I believe?"

"Yes."

"But you were unsuccessful?"

Obviously", Snape responded curtly.

"And you have applied regularly for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post since you first joined the school, I believe?"

"Yes", Snape said, looking angry.

"Do you have any idea why Dumbledore has constantly refused to appoint you?" Umbridge asked.

"I suggest you ask him", Snape replied jerkily.

"Oh, I shall."

"I suppose this is relevant?"

"Oh, yes, yes, the Ministry wants a thorough understanding of the teachers' – er – backgrounds."

By this point, as he had been listening so intently and paying so little attention to his work, Harry's potion had turned into a congealed mess which smelled strongly of burnt rubber.

"No marks, Potter", Snape said maliciously, banishing the contents of Harry's cauldron. "You will write an essay on the correct composition of the potion, indicating how and why it went wrong, to be handed in next lesson, do you understand?"

"Yes", Harry replied. _Even more work to add to the seemingly never-ending pile, _he thought to himself.

The rest of the day passed quickly enough. As expected, the Gryffindor Quidditch team was not given permission to reform yet, Umbridge claiming to need some time to consider it, despite Harry keeping his temper in his Defence Against the Dark Arts class. The Slytherin team had been immediately allowed to do so, which was annoying many of the members of the Gryffindor team even more. Harry had spent a while on his Potions homework, although he was finding it difficult to concentrate, with Fred and George showing off their sweets – their invention was causing them to projectile-vomit into a bucket, amid cheers from their spectators. It was well past midnight when Harry, Ron and Hermione were once again left alone in the common room, waiting for Sirius to contact them on the floo.

When he finally did appear, they told him about the new Educational Decree.

"Which means we're not allowed to have Quidditch teams –" Harry was saying.

"Or secret Defence Against the Dark Arts groups?" Sirius asked. He then revealed that the veiled witch in the Hog's Head, whom they all had been suspicious of, was in fact Mundungus Fletcher, a member of the Order of the Phoenix, in disguise. Sirius passed on a message from Molly, which basically consisted of her banning Ron from taking part in their secret Defence Against the Dark Arts group, and strongly advised against Harry and Hermione doing it either. After a pause, Harry asked:

"Do you want me to say I'm not going to take part in the Defence group?"

"Me? Certainly not! I think it's an excellent idea! D'you think your father and I would've lain down and taken orders from an old hag like Umbridge? Better expelled and able to defend yourselves than sitting in safety in school without a clue. So, how are you organising the group? Where are you meeting?"

"Well, that's a bit of a problem now", Harry replied. "Dunno where we're going to be able to go."

"How about the Shrieking Shack?" Sirius suggested.

"It's too small," Hermione began. "When you guys used it there was only four of you, and you could transform into animals or hide under the Invisibility Cloak if you needed to – there's twenty-eight of us and none of us are animagi, so we wouldn't need an Invisibility Cloak so much as an Invisibility Marquee –"

"Well, I'll have a think and get back to –" Sirius broke off, looking tense and alarmed.

"Sirius?" Harry asked. But Sirius' head had vanished, replaced by a hand, which was groping around as if to catch hold of something; a stubby, short-fingered hand covered in ugly old-fashioned rings. The three of them ran off towards their dorms. Just before the fireplace was out of sight Harry spared a glance back – Umbridge's hand was still making snatching movements in the flames, as if she was trying to seize Sirius' head. He followed Ron into their dorm, hoping that Umbridge wouldn't find out what had been going on.

* * *

Sasuke opened his eyes, looking up at the ceiling. The bright sun was already shining in through the curtains, despite it being so early. As he fully woke up, Sasuke smirked to himself – _today, I get rid of three of my enemies, _he thought to himself.

"Morning Sasuke", Suigetsu said, as Sasuke emerged from his room after getting ready for the day.

"Morning."

"You're in a good mood today, normally you just grunt as you pass me. Thinking about Naruto? Or did you just have a sex dream about him last night?"

"What about you?"

"What about me what?" Suigetsu asked in confusion.

"You're always asking about my relationship, I figured I'd ask about yours."

"Huh? I'm not with anyone."

"Oh, I just figured you were with Karin."

"Urgh", Suigetsu groaned. "I've told you before, we just always end up spending time together because Juugo is off with his animals and you're a moody asshole who ignores everyone. I don't like her...besides, she's insane!"

"Not any more insane than you. Besides, why do you think she always blushes around you, and buys you drinks?"

"You're saying she likes me?" Suigetsu asked, a look of horror crossing his face.

"Don't look so scared", Sasuke said in reply, as he left the room. "I'm sure she won't bite – unless that's what you want." He left the room, heading for his guard duty with Sai, leaving Suigetsu alone, distracted with thoughts of Karin. _One down, two to go, _Sasuke thought to himself. _Sai next – or... _He had noticed Gaara, presumably heading towards a meeting, dressed in his official robes as Kazekage, yet walking alone, which was unusual. _Perfect, _Sasuke thought, _I can take advantage of this..._

"Good morning, Sasuke", Gaara greeted him. "Are you beginning your guard duties?"

"Yes, Kazekage-sama, although it would be better if I wasn't paired up with Sai."

"I don't understand."

"Oh, never mind."

"Very well. Before you go, I was curious about your relationship with the Rokudaime Hokage."

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked. "What about him?"

"Well, I have overheard certain...comments your teammates have been making concerning a relationship between the two of you, and, as I mentioned before, Naruto and I share a special bond." Sasuke gritted his teeth – _not as special as my bond with Naruto,_ he thought, _and I'll make sure you don't go after my dobe._

"Are you single, Kazekage-sama?" Sasuke asked.

"What?" Gaara asked, the shock obvious on his face.

"I apologise, I didn't mean to be so forward, but I thought perhaps you were questioning my relationship out of some sort of envy, presumably as you are unattached, and I am about to go on guard duty with Sai."

"What has your guard duty got to do with anything?"

"Well," Sasuke began, "surely you've noticed that Sai looks at you...I think he likes you, Kazekage-sama, but is worried about any repercussions which may arise from revealing his feelings. But, if you'll excuse me, I don't want to be late." _Two down, one to go, _Sasuke thought to himself.

Sasuke walked down the corridor, leaving Gaara looking after him. He joined Sai near the village walls, and they both went to their position on the walls. Once they had arrived, it didn't take long for Sai to begin tormenting Sasuke, as he had been doing for the couple of weeks.

"So, you're running a little late today, thinking about Naruto in Britain? Or thinking about him in your bed, or in y–"

"You always ask about Naruto, why don't you tell me about you?" Sasuke asked.

"What do you mean?" Sai asked, inane smile on his face as usual.

"I passed Gaara-sama in the hall just now, and we were talking about you – I believe the Kazekage is single, if you want to."

"Want to what?

"Given how much you ask me about Naruto, and how detailed your questions are, I would have thought you understood that." Sai didn't answer, instead looking out into the desert. _That's all three of my enemies down, _Sasuke thought, _I really am a genius._

That night, when Sasuke retired to bed, he laid there, looking up at the ceiling. He smiled to himself – _the whole day, _he thought, _for the whole day I wasn't asked questions by Sai, and when I came back Suigetsu was still distracted – he passed me without even saying a word. Also, I got Gaara thinking about someone else, so he stops thinking about his so-called 'bond' with my Naruto – like anyone's bond with Naruto can compare with mine._

* * *

**A/N - Please read and review**

**Next Chapter - More Drarry, the first meeting of Dumbledore's Army and some results for Sasuke's evil masterplan to distract his so-called 'enemies'!**


	8. 8 - Dumbledore's Army

Normal Text

_Thoughts_

**_Flashback_**

**Thoughts within a flashback**

SUMMARY: Albus hires shinobi to protect Harry (and Hogwarts) during Harry's fifth year. However, Harry has a secret that not even he knows about.

WARNINGS: SasuNaru, HarryxDraco, Drarry, SuiKarin

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or Naruto, they are the property of J. K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto respectively

**A/N - Thanks to everyone who favourited and/or followed this story and/or me and to the reviews! I now have 38 favourites and over 65 followers for this story already!**

* * *

**Sorry for the late update - fortunately I only have one exam left, so I should get back to quicker updates soon!**

* * *

Harry moved swiftly through the school, under his cloak, holding the map in front of himself. It was after one in the morning, but Harry had been forced to wait for a while for all of his dormmates to fall asleep – _I wish they were like Draco's dormmates, _he thought to himself, _and shut themselves inside the curtains around their beds with silencing charms – then I could sneak out easier and earlier._ There were very few people moving around the school, according to his map, although he did have to pause outside the library. One of the ninja was inside – Hatake Kakashi, the map helpfully supplied. Harry waited a few minutes, but, when the ninja made no sign of moving, Harry went in anyway. At the sound of the door, the silver-haired ninja looked up. Harry paused for a moment, holding his breath, but the ninja seemed to be unaware of his presence, so he continued on. Harry went to the entrance to the Restricted Section, which was, unfortunately, still in the ninja's line of sight, even though he had one eye covered. Harry had noticed this particular ninja in the library on his map on several other nights – it seemed he was in here a lot, so Harry figured he may as well just risk it and hope the ninja didn't notice him, especially as he couldn't sneak out every night.

Harry glanced over at Kakashi, who was reading a book, several others in two piles on either side of him. Harry recognised the book as one of the textbooks for the seventh year students, although he wasn't sure which subject it was for. Harry turned back to the task at hand, and used a spell he had learnt with Draco in the Room of Requirement, whispering it quietly as he slowly undid the wards that would record his entry and exit into the Restricted Section. He worked quickly, and was soon entering the section. Harry wandered through the bookshelves until he reached what was roughly the middle of the Restricted Section. He had returned to the Room of Requirement the previous night to see if there were any clues in the copy of the parselmagic book which was there, and found a riddle, written on one of the pages in parseltongue...

_**Harry moved with practised ease, quickly making his way from his dorm to the Room of Requirement, avoiding patrolling teachers and ninjas, and soon found himself in his and Draco's normal room, although this time he wasn't there to meet and train with his boyfriend. He summoned the book on parselmagic from the shelf and flipped through the pages, looking for a clue. On one of the pages in the middle of the blank section was written the following:**_

**In the tongue of the forked**

**Speak in the centre**

**The name of the founder**

**Then you may enter**

**To find this book**

**Unchanged and whole**

**But do not delay**

**Or split from your soul**

_**Harry thought for a while –**_**obviously the book is in the Restricted Section of the library, as that was where we wanted the books to be from when we thought up this room, so 'in the centre' must mean to go to the middle of the Restricted Section in the library. The 'tongue of the forked' presumably means parseltongue as snake's tongues are forked, and the 'founder' likely refers to Slytherin. The last line though – splitting from your soul would mean dying, so I have to be quick or die? Well, I guess it makes sense to protect a book written by a descendent of Slytherin with a death threat, as it's probably filled with a lot of Dark stuff. Not that I care about anything Dark which may be in it, after all, it would be helpful for me to know more about parselmagic, especially as Voldemort can probably do it.**

In the present, Harry was standing in what he believed to be the centre of the library. He checked with the map one final time before setting it down on a nearby table, throwing off his cloak onto the same table. He took a deep breath and hissed out "Slytherin" in parseltongue. Beneath his feet he heard a creaking sound, and, when he looked down, he saw that some of the stones had moved apart to reveal a small cubby hole. Remembering the riddle's warning he bent down and quickly retrieved the book – not a moment too soon, for he barely got it out before it slammed closed again. Harry winced at the sound, quickly grabbing his cloak and map, but it didn't seem like anyone was coming. He stood in the same spot and attempted to reopen the cubby hole, but nothing happened. _Oh well, _Harry thought, _I guess the writer figured whoever took it could find a new hiding place when he or she was finished with it._ He opened the book and flipped through it, noting that it was complete, before tucking it into the pocket of the jumper he was wearing and throwing his cloak back over himself, before leaving the Restricted Section.

Kakashi finished the book he was reading and set it aside. He had slipped his hitai-ate over his Sharingan eye when he sensed someone approaching, so that particular book had taken a little longer to read, but he was now aware of the entire curriculum for all subjects, for the entirety of their education – and honestly, given that there was a war going on, he was a little surprised at the lack of emphasis on defensive magic, especially if this war had been going on since before Voldemort-dono graduated in 1945. He had realised that someone had snuck in and gone into the section which students were not allowed access to, the fact that the person was hidden implying that it was a student. He recognised the magic from his and Tenten's experience a few weeks previously, when they had sensed someone in the seventh floor corridor, and Kakashi suspected that it was probably the same person, as the curriculum contained no information on how to perform that sort of magic.

He heard a slam from within the section and forced himself not to react, knowing that the person inside would likely come out again soon, and he had a better chance of seeing through the hiding spell if he knew where he was looking. He slipped his hitai-ate back up onto his head, revealing his Sharingan eye – _I might be able to tell who it is, _Kakashi thought to himself,_ I may be able to see through this magic with my Sharingan. It didn't work last time, but that was only with a quick look, and the person may have been hiding himself in a hidden area as well – if I run more chakra through my eye this time, perhaps I can at least see the energy flow within the person's body, and then match it to the individual wizard later. _He focussed his Sharingan on the area between the entrance to the Restricted Section and the door to the library, assuming that the student would quickly leave once they got what they had come for. As the student slipped back out, Kakashi managed to see the energy flow within their body. He recognised it to be that of Harry Potter – _but why is he taking something from the section in secrecy? _Kakashi asked himself. _Surely if it were important to the war effort then he could ask for it? It seems like he has something to hide, and not just from Umbridge-san, but also from others, especially given how easily he uses that magic, as if he has done so many times before..._ Kakashi sighed to himself, before reaching for another book, deciding to read about the school's history and layout, in case of an attack.

* * *

Sasuke entered the living area of the quarters he shared with his current team. He had enacted his plan a few days previously, and it had worked well so far – neither Sai or Suigetsu were asking him suggestive questions about his relationship with Naruto, and Gaara hadn't started going on about his supposed 'bond' with Naruto. He had just finished his guard duties for the day and had returned to find Anko and Suigetsu already gone. Also, Sai had decided to go and see Gaara, so Sasuke was alone. He leant back on the couch – _ah, peace, _he thought to himself, _now maybe I can daydream about Naruto, after all, by the time I arrive in Britain we'll have been apart for a few months, so we'll have a lot of catching up to do..._

"Uchiha-san?" a voice asked, opening the door to the shared quarters. Temari entered, her fan strapped to her back, clearly having recently returned from a mission.

"Yes?"

"I was hoping to discuss a rather...delicate matter with you."

"Okay..." Sasuke said, unsure how to respond.

"I would like to know if you are aware of the situation between your comrade and my brother...that is, what are Sai's intentions towards him? Being from a different village, even an allied one may raise political issues, and if Sai is just playing or something, then, well, you know..." she trailed off. Sasuke looked at her for a moment.

"What do you want from me?"

"Do you know Sai's intentions towards Gaara?" Temari repeated.

"I'm afraid I don't. Are they in a relationship?" Sasuke asked, realising he had to cover up his own involvement, as well as trying to be as polite as possible – he constantly reminded himself that this mission had to go well for him to be allowed to join Naruto in Britain.

"It seems that way, especially given how closely they were talking a moment ago..."

_**Temari had just returned from a mission. She had been on a succession of C-rank missions with some genin in a few of the nearby villages, and had returned, having left not long after the arrival of the team from Konoha. She made her way to Gaara's office and knocked on the door, entering when she heard a response from inside. She was about to report in, but noticed that one of the shinobi from the Leaf Village, Sai, was sat on the couch, not lazily, but comfortably enough that he was clearly not in the Kazekage's office for some official reason. His posture also suggested that he had been in the room for a reasonable amount of time.**_

_**"You have just returned?" Gaara was asking. It took Temari a moment to process his question, too many scenarios running through her head concerning the reason for Sai's presence, and when she did answer:**_

_**"Huh?" she asked unintelligibly.**_

_**"Clearly the answer is 'yes', you have just returned with your genin team. Did everything go well?" Gaara asked.**_

_**"Um, er – yes! Yes, Kazekage-sama, everything is fine, I was just reporting in. As it is ****–**** er ****–**** evening I will go now?" she replied.**_

_**"Of course." Temari left, pausing outside the door for a moment. She glanced back just before the door fully closed, only to see Sai had moved over to Gaara's desk and was leaning towards the redhead, his body language suggesting that he was attempting to flirt, while Gaara was blushing slightly. She decided to find out what was going on.**_

"Well?" Temari asked, standing in front of Sasuke, her hands on her hips.

"Sorry, but I don't know anything, although Sai has spoken about Gaara a few times", Sasuke said.

"Fine, well, if he does give you any information, tell me?"

"Of course, but we will probably be leaving soon."

"Well, then, send me a message or something with anything you find out."

"I will", Sasuke replied.

"Swear it."

"Excuse me?"

"I still don't know if you're to be trusted or not, but I have to follow Gaara's judgement, for political reasons...but, this is personal, and he's my brother...I want you to promise me that you will tell me anything you uncover about their relationship", Temari said, her tone becoming increasingly more pleading as she spoke.

"I promise", Sasuke said, sighing to himself. Temari seemed happy enough with his answer and left him alone – _and here I was thinking my plan had worked perfectly, _Sasuke thought to himself. _I hope I haven't just made a real relationship with this ploy, I don't think I could stand having to send her loads of messages...although, all she really wants to know about are Sai's intentions, so perhaps I can get that out of him before we leave...my plan hasn't failed! I'm still a genius!_

* * *

Sai leaned over Gaara's desk as Temari left, noticing the slight blush on the redhead's face. After he heard Temari walk away, he asked:

"Why did you blush?"

"People don't generally get that close to me physically, not unless they are trying to harm me...even though I know you were merely trying to get my sister to leave, my body still reacted."

"Oh. So, what shall we do then?" Sai asked. Gaara thought back over their conversation, which Temari had interrupted.

_**Gaara was doing some paperwork in his office, the sun just beginning to set, when he heard a knock on his door.**_

_**"Come in."**_

_**"I'm sorry, am I bothering you, Kazekage-sama?" Sai asked, entering and shutting the door behind him. Gaara looked up from his work at the face of the person who, according to Sasuke, liked him in some way.**_

_**"Please, come in, I thought you may come to talk to me at some point, especially if Sasuke said anything to you."**_

_**"Do you know that Sasuke is in a relationship with Naruto?" Sai asked.**_

_**"I assumed there was something between them, but I'm not sure I would have used that word. Why do you mention it?"**_

_**"Well, Suigetsu and I thought it would be fun to mock Sasuke a bit on the way here", Sai explained. "Sasuke never opens up about anything, so we decided to ask him about his relationship, to try and build on our teamwork and everything, especially as Sasuke hasn't been back in the village that long... Anyway, after a while, he suddenly stopped reacting, and Suigetsu warned me that we may have gone too far, made him too uncomfortable, and we should expect him to retaliate. I think that may be what's going on here...unless you did in fact stop Sasuke in the hallway in order to ask about me."**_

_**"No", Gaara replied. "I stopped him to ask how he was doing with his guard duties and about his relationship with Naruto...he brought up the issue of your apparent romantic feelings for me."**_

_**"I figured", Sai said. "So, what should we do?"**_

_**"What do you suggest?"**_

_**"Well, Sasuke can avoid me at the moment, but I can continue messing with him when we leave to return to Konoha, and Suigetsu will be around as well. Perhaps we should pretend for now, just to make him think his plan has worked? I don't know what else we could do though."**_

_**"I may have an idea", Gaara said, smirking slightly. Before he could speak, he was interrupted by a knock at the door, Temari having come to inform him that she had returned.**_

"What shall we do then?" Sai repeated.

"Do?"

"You said you had an idea, before Temari-san interrupted us."

"Oh, yes", Gaara remembered. "Well, there are plenty of things we could do to get back at Sasuke, but I think Naruto is the most effective, especially if they are in a romantic relationship."

"Naruto?"

"Yes", Gaara confirmed. "If I send a message addressed to the 'Rokudaime Hokage', then Sasuke cannot open it, nor can anyone else, as it would be a letter between two kages. Sasuke clearly included me in his plot to distract you both as he was jealous over the bond with Naruto I mentioned, so this can make him more jealous. Furthermore, I can use the message to tell Naruto what Sasuke has been up to, and I'm sure Naruto is the most effective punishment for anything Sasuke does."

"That's pretty devious", Sai complimented Gaara. After a breif pause, Sai continued: "Let's do it."

* * *

Naruto and Neji were sat at the table in the shared area of their quarters, clones patrolling the school. While Tenten and Kakashi got some food, having just gotten back from their shifts, Naruto had been animatedly explaining the rules of Quidditch. Neji was respectively nodding along, although his mind was not actually on Naruto's words. After Naruto stopped talking, hopefully having finished, Neji took the opening:

"Kakashi-san, have you read anything about a spell called the 'Patronus'?"

"I don't believe so. Why do you ask?"

"While Naruto-sama and I were in Hogsmeade at the weekend, we observed a meeting Potter-san and his friends were holding, as we have already told you", Neji explained. "However, what I forgot to ask you at the time was about this particular spell – the students were all very impressed that Potter-san was capable of performing it."

"Well, I've finished reading the entire curriculum for the seven years, and there is no mention of that spell, even in the books which were used before Professor Umbridge got here. It must be something beyond their capabilities", Kakashi said.

"Very well, I will look into it myself today, and see what it is for", Neji said. Kakashi made a noise of agreement.

"I suppose, with Umbridge's 'teaching', it's a good thing that the students are doing it for themselves", Tenten mused, sitting down at the table.

"Yeah, and it might be more interesting to watch!" Naruto agreed.

"Especially as we will then be able to determine how well Potter-san can hold himself in a battle situation", Neji added.

"Well, speaking of Potter-san," Kakashi began, sitting down as well, "I found out last night that it was almost certainly him who can do that hiding magic that even my Sharingan couldn't see through."

"Really?" Naruto asked. "How was he doing it?"

"I'm not sure. Last night, while in the library, I sensed and heard someone in the Restricted Section, who was using the same magic", Kakashi explained. "There is nothing in the curriculum about it, yet a teacher would not be required to sneak around, so I realised it must be a student with some sort of skill at hiding himself. It also appeared to be same person as from a few weeks ago. By channelling more chakra into my Sharingan, as well as the fact that I could tell exactly where the person was as I knew that they were leaving, I managed to see the energy flow within the person's body. It was Potter."

"So, we still do not know exactly what it is he is doing in order to hide himself?" Neji asked.

"No, but we know that it's him", Kakashi answered. "I also noticed that he had snuck in to take something from the Restricted Section – I thought it was odd that he couldn't just ask for it, as whatever book it was presumably will help him fight Voldemort-dono."

"Perhaps it was because of Umbridge?" Naruto asked.

"Even so, you'd think that Dumbledore could have hidden it from her", Tenten said.

"Maybe Harry didn't tell anyone?" Naruto suggested. "I don't know why he wouldn't, but..." he trailed off, unsure how to finish.

"It seems then, for whatever reason, Potter-san has reason to distrust Dumbledore-san", Neji concluded. "Can we trust him?"

"Well," Naruto began, stretching and standing up, "we aren't going to find anything out here, and, for now at least, we will just have to continue what we are doing. Even if Dumbledore has ulterior motives of some sort, we aren't going to find them out easily, and Harry may have some other reason to distrust him that doesn't apply to us. Neji, why don't you go and find out about this 'Patronus' spell and take my existing clone to patrol the nearby area. I'll take your clone and patrol the school, and make a second clone just to follow Harry – that way, we can find out why he might not trust everyone. Also, with Umbridge's recent decree, the students for this Defence Against the Dark Arts group are going to have to gather in secret, and, if we want to watch them, we have to know where they are meeting, so the clone following him will gather that information as well."

"Yes, Hokage-sama", Neji agreed. The two of them stood up to leave, and Tenten and Kakashi went to bed.

* * *

Harry was lying on his bed, the curtains drawn around it, while the rest of the dorm was sleeping. It was after midnight, but Harry had decided to use the time to read the parselmagic book he had recovered the previous night. He had lit his wand-tip using the _Lumos_ spell, and had read the first section, which was mostly introductory, offering some information on the Slytherin family tree, when he heard a loud 'crack' from the end of his bed.

"Harry Potter, sir!"

Harry sat up, pushing the book under his pillow. "Dobby has your owl, sir!" the sqeaky voice continued.

"Dobby...you...er – you really should knock or something, you know..." Harry said. He thought about Draco, making himself blush, hoping that Dobby would believe that his book was something like _that_, rather than what it was – after all, parselmagic would probably be considered Dark, even by an elf as loyal to Harry as Dobby was. However, Dobby didn't seem to notice anyway:

"Dobby volunteered to return Harry Potter's owl", the elf said squeakily, with a look of positive adoration on his face. "Professor Grubbly-Plank says she is all well now, sir!"

"Thanks, Dobby", Harry replied. Hedwig gave a hoot before fluttering to settle on his nightstand. Dobby bowed deeply before apparating away.

Harry sighed to himself. He had only been half paying attention to the book, as he had been trying to figure out where the Defence group should meet. _The only logical answer is the Room of Requirement, _he thought to himself. _I could easily think up a room that is different from mine and Draco's but still good enough for us to train in...after all, if I'm going to be teaching them, then they don't need the books that we have. They also wouldn't need practice dummies, as they can fight each other, and they definitely wouldn't need the couch where we..._Harry's thoughts broke off as he blushed deeply. He tried to push the thoughts from his head, but he couldn't stop thinking about it, what he and Draco had done last time they had met...Harry gave up on trying to read his book, and on thinking about the Defence group. He put out the light on his wand and settled to sleep, thinking about Draco as he did so. Although his thoughts didn't affect his dreams...

He was walking once more along a windowless corridor, his footsteps echoing in the silence. As the door at the end of the passage loomed larger, his heart beat fast with excitement...if he could only open it...enter beyond...He stretched out his hand...his fingertips were inches from it...

"Oi, Harry!" Harry awoke with a start, blinking in the morning light that was coming in through the gap in his curtains. He pulled himself out of bed as the voice shouted at him again.

"I'm up, Ron", Harry said, replying before his best friend could shout a third time.

"Hurry up!" Ron said. "We don't want to miss breakfast!" Harry sighed to himself as he pulled on his uniform and grabbed his school bag. _If only I could open the door,_ he thought to himself, _then perhaps I could see what Voldemort is after..._

* * *

Harry, Ron and Hermione were up on the seventh floor. It was evening, so most of the students would be in their common rooms, and it was too early for the teachers to be wandering around or the prefects patrolling. Harry had checked on his map that no-one was nearby, before he walked back and forward in front of the wall. _We need somewhere to fight,_ he thought. _Not like mine and Draco's room, just a large room for plenty of people to train in, yet still with some books and armchairs...but nothing that could be perceived as Dark. Just a place to fight, somewhere they can't find us..._

"Harry!" Hermione said sharply, interrupting his thoughts. Ron was staring at a highly polished door which had just appeared in the wall. Harry reached out and opened it, trying to look somewhat tentative, as his friends believed this to be his first visit to the Room of Requirement, before leading the way into a spacious room, perfect for their group to meet in. To one side was a large bookcase and a few armchairs. There was also another set of shelves with instruments such as Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors and a large, cracked Foe-Glass. There was a pile of cushions to one side of the room, which Ron stated would be perfect for practising Stunning.

"I guess Dobby was right", Harry said, thinking back to earlier that day...

_**Harry, Ron and Hermione were trudging their way through the flooded vegetable patch to double Herbology. Harry was telling them about an idea he claimed he had gotten from Dobby:**_

_**"Last night, Dobby came into the dorm to return Hedwig, as Grubbly-Plank fixed her up, and I asked him if he knew anywhere we could use to practice. He told me about this room on the seventh floor, which becomes whatever you need it to – the Room of Requirement. He also told me how to get in...we should check it out later."**_

Harry had realised that Dobby would be a good excuse for how he knew about this room, especially as Dobby really had been in their dorm. Ron and Hermione had been sceptical, Dobby's plans did not always turn out well after all, but now they were standing in the room they clearly had forgotten their earlier comments. Hermione was eagerly scanning the book titles, while Ron looked at the instruments on the shelves.

"So, what do you think?" Harry asked.

"It's great", Hermione sighed, looking longingly at the books.

"We'll get the message out to everyone and meet here tomorrow night then?"

"Yeah, sure", Ron agreed. Hermione nodded also. Harry opened the door and peered out, checking that no-one was around, as he couldn't be bothered to check the map again – they had only been in the room for a couple of minutes. The three of them left the room, returning to Gryffindor common room.

They passed Naruto without even noticing his presence, although he was obscured by a genjutsu, so they shouldn't have been able to see him anyway. Naruto's clone had popped just as the three arrived on the seventh floor, so Naruto himself had gone up there. He had been too late to follow them into the room, as the door was already shut, but he could see the door, and he had heard part of their conversation. He realised that this was the same corridor as Kakashi and Tenten had sensed Potter on at the beginning of the year, _so did he already know about this room?_ Naruto asked himself. _He seems to be hiding from his friends whatever he gets up to in there normally – perhaps it has something to do with whatever he took from the Restricted Section the other night? If they're meeting tomorrow night, then we should make sure that a couple of us are here – it will be easy to sneak in when there are so many people going in for the meeting._

* * *

The following evening, Naruto was standing outside their quarters, waiting for Kakashi. Normally all four shinobi would still be up at this time, as they would be just about to change shifts. As Naruto knew where exactly the Room of Requirement was, and Kakashi would recognise Harry's hiding ability, Naruto had decided it would be best for the two of them to go and watch the meeting of the Defence group, then Kakashi could continue his shift and Naruto could go to bed. They anticipated being there until around ten, as Naruto figured it would take a while for the meeting to get started. Kakashi came out of the portrait.

"You're late, as always, Kakashi-sensei", Naruto said.

"You know, if you keep calling me 'sensei', I can't help but call you Naruto-kun."

"Hn", Naruto said, trying to imitate Sasuke's uncaring expression along with the Uchiha's typical non-committal reply. "Let's just go." They activated the usual genjutsu to hide themselves and Naruto led the way up to the seventh floor. They waited outside the room, having purposely got there a few minutes before eight – although they were not as early as Naruto wanted, as Kakashi was late as usual – and Kakashi slipped up his hitai-ate, using his Sharingan to watch for Harry's arrival.

It wasn't too long before Kakashi said: "They're arriving." Naruto couldn't see anything, but the door appeared a few moments later. Kakashi informed him that the energy flow was from three people, all under the same hiding spell – _probably Harry and his friends, _Naruto thought. People began arriving in small groups soon after, and Kakashi and Naruto snuck in with one of the groups. They found a place to stand on one side of the room, near the bookcases without being too close if anyone wanted a book. After a while, the room was filled, all the people from the meeting at the Hog's Head having arrived. Harry went over to the door and turned the key that was protruding from the lock.

"Well," Harry said, "this is the place we've found for practice sessions, and you've – er – obviously found it okay."

"We once hid in here from Filch, remember George?" Fred asked. "But it was just a broom cupboard then."

"Hey, Harry, what's this stuff?" Dean asked from the back of the room, indicating the various instruments on the shelves.

"Dark detectors", Harry replied. "Basically they all show when Dark wizards or enemies are around, but you don't want to rely on them too much, they can be fooled..."

"I think we ought to elect a leader", Hermione said, changing the subject.

"Harry's leader", several of the members said, many of the others nodding their agreement.

"Yes," Hermione began, "but I think we ought to vote on it properly, that makes its formal and gives him authority. So, everyone who thinks Harry ought to be our leader?" Everybody raised their hands, even though a couple seemed to be doing so half-heartedly.

"Er – right, thanks", Harry said. "And – what, Hermione?" he asked, her hand raised as if they were in class.

"I also think we ought to have a name", she said, her hand still in the air. "It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?"

Various people broke in with suggestions, including:

"Anti-Umbridge League?"

"Ministry of Magic are Morons Group?"

"How about the 'Defence Association'?" one person asked. "That way we can refer to it as the DA so no-one knows what we are talking about."

"Yeah, the DA's good", Ginny agreed. "Only let's make it stand for 'Dumbledore's Army', because that's the Ministry's worst fear, right?" There was a good deal of laughter and appreciative murmuring at this. Hermione took another vote, and it passed with a majority, so she wrote the name 'Dumbledore's Army' at the top of the parchment with all of their signatures on, then pinned the parchment to the wall.

"Right," Harry began, "shall we get to practising then? I was thinking, the first thing we should do is _Expelliarmus_, the Disarming Charm – I know it's pretty basic, but I've found it really useful –"

"Oh, please", Zacharias Smith said, rolling his eyes and folding his arms. "Do you really think _Expelliarmus_ is going to help us against You-Know-Who?"

"I've used it against him", Harry said quietly. "It saved my life in June. But, if you think it's beneath you, you can leave." Smith did not move, and nor did anyone else. "Okay," Harry continued, "divide into pairs and practise."

Everyone did so, and the room was soon full of shouts of "_Expelliarmus_!". Harry wandered around, correcting various people who were having difficulties. Slowly the general performance improved. After a while, Hermione called out to Harry:

"Hey, Harry, have you noticed the time?" He looked down at his watch and was shocked to see that it was already ten past nine, meaning that they all needed to get back to their common rooms. A whistle appeared beside him, and he blew it, everyone stopping to look at him.

"Well, that was pretty good," he said, "but we've overrun, so we'd better leave it here. Same time, same place, next week?"

"The Quidditch season's about to start, we need team practices too!" someone called out.

"Let's say next Wednesday then", Harry replied. "We can decide on any additional meetings then." Harry let them out of the room in threes and fours, and soon the room was seemingly empty, only Harry, Ron and Hermione still inside.

"That was really, really good, Harry", Hermione said. Their conversation continued as they left the room, the door closing behind them.

Naruto and Kakashi heard them retreat down the corridor, before undoing the genjutsu.

"Well, that wasn't exactly what I would have thought of as 'training', but it was better than what they do in class. And I thought they'd be here longer than that", Naruto said.

"It was a good place to start", Kakashi said. "Disarming an opponent is part of their curriculum in the second year, yet many people didn't seem to be able to do it, even though the majority of students were at least fourth years, and some were even seventh years."

"Fair enough", Naruto said, his mind wandering. The room began changing around them, which Naruto barely noticed, as he wasn't paying attention.

"Naruto", Kakashi said, snapping him out of his thoughts. Naruto looked around. The room had changed into a replica of one of the training grounds they used in Konoha.

"Sorry", Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head with his hand. "I was just thinking about the sort of training we do."

"No problem", Kakashi said, reaching into his vest pocket for one of his books. He opened it and started reading, moving towards the door to leave the room.

"While we're here, do you want to spar?" Naruto asked. "Neji and Tenten aren't expecting as back for a good 45 minutes or so."

"I don't think I'd be able to win, Naruto, you're the Rokudaime Hokage for a reason, not to mention you're a sannin, and you have beaten me before."

"Yeah, but that was the bell test! Besides, I can go easy on you if you want?" he asked cheekily. Kakashi's visible eye narrowed, and he snapped his book closed, returning it to his vest. He moved his mask and hitai-ate aside to reveal his Sharingan, as Naruto smirked at him, clearly enjoying the fact that he'd gotten to Kakashi.

Naruto moved his hands, making several shadow clones which all jumped towards Kakashi. Kakashi avoided them, kicking and punching as they popped into smoke around him. He just managed to avoid the shuriken which the real Naruto threw while he was distracted with Naruto's shadow clones. Kakashi narrowed his eyes slightly. Naruto just smiled back at him, a cheeky grin on his face, as he figured he'd already won when Kakashi had tried to refuse. Kakashi reached into his weapons pouch and drew three kunai, throwing them at the last remaining Naruto – however, it too popped into smoke. Kakashi looked around for Naruto – although the Room of Requirement was simulating one of their training grounds, it was no more than a large empty grassy area, with no trees to hide behind, although there was a small river running through it. Kakashi realised too late where Naruto was, as the younger shinobi came up out of the ground behind him.

Kakashi narrowly missed the One Thousand Years of Death technique:

"Damn", Naruto said. "I really want to get you with that some day, you always manage to avoid it just in time." He waited for Kakashi's next move. Kakashi moved his hands, too rapidly for any human eye to see, as Naruto used his multi-shadow clone jutsu.

"Fire Style: Fireball jutsu!" Kakashi said, a fireball erupting from in front of his mouth. However, Naruto had made so many clones, that the fire didn't even reach him, and he stood there, completely motionless, as most of his clones popped away. He was still motionless as the fire dispelled itself, leaving only two clones. Kakashi ignored this, moving his hands again, still at a speed that only the Sharingan would be able to see through. He jumped back onto the surface of the river: "Water Style: Water Dragon jutsu!" The water moved in front of him, so he didn't see Naruto's eyes, or his hands, although he did feel the build-up of chakra.

Naruto had been using his stillness to gather nature energy, and then his two remaining clones had helped him make his rasenshuriken, which he threw at Kakashi's water dragons. Although the water dispelled some of the chakra, Naruto's jutsu managed to hit him. He couldn't avoid it, and was thrown back onto the grassy floor. The room changed back around them, as Naruto had clearly decided that they were done, and became the room which the Defence group had been using before. Kakashi was now leaning against one of the walls, although he was sagging to the floor. Naruto walked over to him, the orange-red markings around his eyes fading as his eyes returned to their usual blue colour. He pulled Kakashi to his feet.

"I did say that you wouldn't be able to beat me, you're the Hokage for a reason", Kakashi pointed out.

"Yeah, but it was still fun to spar, right?"

"Well, yeah, I guess, although it was mostly you avoiding my attacks and then using that technique on me."

"Ah, don't worry, I didn't put as much chakra behind it as usual, plus it hit your water dragons, so you should be fine. In a while. I guess", Naruto said. Kakashi just looked at him, settling his mask and hitai-ate back into place to cover his Sharingan.

"I'll be fine, just running low on chakra", Kakashi confirmed. "I guess Tenten will have to patrol without the company of my clone tonight." Naruto smiled in response. He put up a genjutsu around both of them, figuring that Kakashi might not be able to do it for himself, and the two of them returned to their quarters, before Kakashi went to the library, leaving Tenten to patrol alone – although, when she heard the reason for her solitary patrolling, she did look sorry for him, after all, Naruto was a formidable enemy now, not the idiot he'd seemed to everyone only a few years ago.

* * *

**A/N - Please read and review**

**Next Chapter - Sasuke's team returns to Konoha, more Drarry and Quidditch **


	9. 9 - Quidditch and Hagrid

Normal Text

_Thoughts_

**_Flashback_**

**Thoughts within a flashback**

SUMMARY: Albus hires shinobi to protect Harry (and Hogwarts) during Harry's fifth year. However, Harry has a secret that not even he knows about.

WARNINGS: SasuNaru, HarryxDraco, Drarry, SuiKarin

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or Naruto, they are the property of J. K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto respectively

**A/N - Thanks to everyone who favourited and/or followed this story and/or me and to the reviews! I now have 42 favourites and over 70 followers for this story!**

* * *

Sasuke, Sai, Suigetsu and Anko were on their way back to Konoha. They had ended up being in the Sand Village for around two months, waiting for copies of all the documents Tsunade had requested, but they were now returning. Due to the political aspects of the mission, Temari and Kankuro had escorted them to the border, which they had reached around an hour ago. Before the two Sand-nin had left, Temari reminded Sasuke of his promise, and Kankuro had glared at him as well, silently showing his agreement with his sister, as well as giving Sai a dark look before the two of them returned to the Sand Village. The Leaf shinobi sat down by the same river as they had over two months previously. Sasuke knelt by the river washing his face, and Sai crouched down beside him to do the same.

"So, Sasuke, I bet you've been missing Naruto, haven't you?" Sai asked, his usual grin on his face.

"Meaning what?"

"Well, you've been missing being inside him, what else would I mean? Unless you're in love with the Rokudaime?" Sasuke groaned internally, getting frustrated. _My plan didn't work the way I wanted, _he thought to himself. _It seems that Sai and Gaara really are together now, and I have to find out about their relationship so I can tell Temari. Plus, now that Gaara isn't around, he's gone back to asking me perverted questions about Naruto. Suigetsu is at least still distracted, hopefully by the thought of what he will do when he sees Karin again...I refuse to let my entire plan fall apart! I'm a Uchiha!_ Sasuke was interrupted from his thoughts by Anko calling him, stating that they were ready to move off. Sasuke stood up, hand automatically going to the scroll in his pocket. It was from Gaara, addressed to the 'Rokudaime Hokage', so he couldn't open it, although it was difficult, as he needed to be sure that Gaara wasn't saying anything to Naruto which would take Naruto away from him – _he's mine after all!_ Sasuke said to himself. He moved to join the others.

Sai looked at Sasuke, smirking to himself when he saw the Uchiha's hand move to the scroll in his pocket. Gaara had done what he'd said he would a few weeks earlier, he'd written to Naruto to tell him what Sasuke had been up to – _which is fully justified, _Sai thought, _as this mission did have a political aspect. From what Gaara told me, he has pretty much just written an account of what Sasuke was doing in order to shift the focus away from his and Naruto's relationship, out of jealousy and annoyance. The mission went well enough that Sasuke will be allowed to go to Britain, and I expect the message will be sent first, so when Sasuke arrives..._Sai chuckled evilly to himself. The four of them continued through the forest, mostly in silence, although punctuated by Sai's continued remarks to Sasuke, which the other two ignored, although Suigetsu was still preoccupied with his thoughts.

* * *

It had been several weeks since the first meeting of Dumbledore's Army. Hermione had come up with the idea of using fake Galleons to communicate the date and time of meetings to the various members, as she was worried about people from different houses talking too much in the Great Hall. The numerals around the edge would change to the date and time rather than being the usual serial number, matching any changes made to Harry's coin. The days were getting shorter, as it was now getting into November. The Quidditch season was just beginning, and the first match was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin.

Neji and Naruto were standing on top of one of the viewing towers. Below them were sat some of the students from Slytherin, the most likely to cause problems in Neji's mind. More students gathered in other towers, all wearing their house colours, and in two of the towers also sat most of the teachers. Before long, both teams marched on to the field, and Madam Hooch had the captains shake hands, before blowing her whistle and releasing the balls. The commentator was sat in the tower with some of the Gryffindors and Professor McGonagall, and Naruto appeared to be listening to him and watching intently. Neji mostly ignored the match, instead watching the spectators and the surrounding area. Before long Neji could hear singing:

Weasley cannot save a thing,

He cannot block a single ring,

That's why Slytherins all sing:

Weasley is our King.

Weasley was born in a bin,

He always lets the Quaffle in,

Weasley will make sure we win,

Weasley is our King.

"Hokage-sama", Neji said in warning.

"They've been discussing the song for a while. They started singing quietly a few minutes ago, getting louder. The idea is to distract Weasley-san, and I think it's working, on him and Potter-san, see?" Naruto motioned to Harry, who had been stationary in midair for several moments. The Gryffindor captain shouted at Harry and he rejoined the match. It wasn't long before he noticed something and went in for a dive, hand reaching for the Snitch. Naruto moved before Neji even realised why – Harry was hit squarely in the small of the back by a Bludger. Harry fell forwards off his broom, several metres above the floor. Naruto undid the genjutsu as he hit the floor, having caught Harry. Naruto rolled on the floor as he landed. Harry pushed him away and stood up, looking annoyed as everyone landed and rushed towards him. Harry raised his hand in the air, the wings of the Snitch fluttering out between his fingers as the commentator announced a Gryffindor victory.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked, as she ran onto the pitch and up to Harry.

"I'm fine", Harry asked, glaring at Naruto, who stood up and straightened his cloak and hitai-ate. Madam Hooch was on one side of the pitch, yelling at Crabbe, the person who had hit the Bludger at Harry. Neji dropped down on one side of the pitch, letting out a small amount of his chakra so that Naruto knew where he was, although he remained hidden under the genjutsu. Naruto stood back as Malfoy approached.

"Did you like my lyrics?" he asked Harry. "We couldn't fit everything in, couldn't say anything about his mother or call him such a 'useless loser'...although, I suppose you like the Weasleys, don't you, Potter? Can't imagine how you stand the stink, but, when you've been dragged up by Muggles, even the Weasleys' hovel smells OK...Perhaps you can remember what _your_ mother's house stank like, Potter, and Weasley's pigsty reminds you of it –"

From the side of the pitch, Neji watched as Harry and one of the twins rushed at Malfoy. Naruto grabbed at Harry, as he was standing just behind him, and someone else yelled a spell which caused George to trip over. Naruto trying to grab Harry had caused Harry to fall to the floor as well, and both leapt to their feet as Madam Hooch rushed over. As the rest of the team restrained Fred and also stopped Harry and George from trying again, Naruto slipped to the side to join Neji, replacing the genjutsu hiding him. Madam Hooch shouted at both Harry and George before sending them to Professor McGonagall's office.

"Stay here and make sure nothing else happens", Naruto told Neji. "I'll follow them to McGonagall-san's office." Neji nodded in response and Naruto ran off towards the castle, still obscured from the sight of the wizards.

Harry and George reached Professor McGonagall's office just as she came storming down the corridor. She demanded them to enter and closed the door behind them, not noticing Naruto sneaking in with them due to his genjutsu.

"Well?!" she shouted. "I have never seen such a disgraceful exhibition. Two on one! Explain yourselves!"

"Malfoy provoked us", Harry replied stiffly.

"Of course he did! He'd just lost, hadn't he? What on Earth could he have said that justified what you two –"

"He insulted my parents", George responded. "And Harry's mother."

"Why didn't you just leave it to Madam Hooch?! Have you any idea what you've –"

"Hem, hem." Harry and George wheeled to the door. Naruto looked in the same direction. Professor Umbridge was standing there, wrapped in a green tweed cloak. Although he made the comparison when he first looked up, Naruto refused to compare her with one of his toads. "May I help, Professor McGonagall?"

" 'Help'? What do you mean 'help'?" Professor Umbridge moved forwards into the office, smiling her sickly smile.

"Why, I thought you might be grateful for a little extra authority."

"You thought wrong", Professor McGonagall said, turning her back on Umbridge. "I am giving you both a week's worth of detentions."

"I think they deserve more than just detentions", Umbridge put in.

"Yes, but they are students of my house."

"Yes, but, ah, where is it...the Minister just sent it..." Umbridge rummaged in her handbag before withdrawing her hand, holding a piece of parchment. "Hem, hem...Educational Decree Number Twenty-five."

"Not another one!" McGonagall exclaimed violently.

"Well, yes, actually...after all, you remember how you took the case of the Gryffindor Quidditch team to Dumbledore, when I didn't want them to reform? Well, now, I couldn't have that...so, I contacted the Minister at once, and he agreed that I should have absolute power over the punishment of students, more authority than the common teachers. And now you see, don't you Minerva, that I was correct in attempting to stop the team from reforming? Dreadful tempers...anyway, hem, hem. Educational Decree Number 25. 'The High Inquisitor will henceforth have supreme authority over all punishments, sanctions and removal of privileges pertaining to the students of Hogwarts, and the power to alter such punishments, sanctions and removals of privileges as may have been ordered by other staff members. Signed, Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, etcetera, etcetera...' So, I think I'll have to ban these two from playing Quidditch ever again."

From where Naruto was hiding himself in the corner of the room he could see the wings of the Snitch still fluttering in Harry's hand. _I definitely don't want to compare her to my toads now,_ he thought, _although, if she was one then I could go somewhere really unpleasant and summon her there, like out in the forest...the students are banned from going there, and I don't really know what's out there, but it's probably not much fun..._ Naruto was interrupted from his thoughts by Umbridge leaving, having banned Harry and both twins from playing the sport ever again and confiscated the three's broomsticks. Harry and George stared after her.

"Professor –" Harry began.

"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do Mr Potter", McGonagall said, dismissing the two wizards. Harry and George left the office and Naruto moved out of the corner. He undid the genjutsu as he looked after them, noting that Professor McGonagall jerked slightly, trying to cover up her surprise at his sudden appearance.

"It seems that the political situation here isn't particularly desirable, even to you, McGonagall-san."

"No, it isn't", she sighed, sitting down at her desk as Naruto turned to face her. "No disrespect intended, but you should probably stay out of it, it might not be the sort of situation you want to get involved with."

"I was hoping that you could make a portkey for me, McGonagall-san. We have a second team preparing to come in a few weeks time."

"Of course, how many people?"

"Is that important? I'm sorry, but I can't tell you for sure. Either two or four, I won't know more until they arrive, unfortunately."

"I'll make one that can take up to five people, just to be certain", McGonagall said, looking around for a suitable item. She picked up an old quill and held her wand towards it, incanting a spell. It glowed for a moment and she handed it to Naruto. "It will activate three weeks today at eight pm, is that okay?"

"That's fine, thank you", Naruto replied, taking the quill from her. He disappeared in a pop of smoke, in the same manner as Kakashi often did, leaving McGonagall standing alone in her office.

* * *

Later that evening, Naruto and Neji were sat at the table in the shared area of their quarters while Kakashi and Tenten got ready for their patrols. Naruto had decided to tell all three of them about what had happened in McGonagall's office with Umbridge.

"I also got her to make a portkey. Earlier this morning I got a message from Tsunade-baa-chan, saying that Sasuke's team is on their way back from Suna so the second team will be here soon. The portkey is set to activate three weeks today, and I am going to send it to Konoha later with an update." He groaned.

"Is something wrong, Naruto-sama?", Tenten asked.

"Sorry, just remembering my comparison of Umbridge and a toad – as if she could ever be that important to me."

"Well, anyway," Neji began, "after you left, Naruto-sama, I noticed that the empty hut near the Forbidden Forest had an occupant. On my way back, I sensed Potter-san and his friends, under that same hiding magic, heading towards the hut, so I followed them. They had an interesting conversation..."

_**Neji couldn't sneak in with Potter-san and his friends, but he could hear their conversation from outside. Looking through the window, he noticed the man inside, the occupant of the house. He was very large, taller than most humans. He had long, scraggly dark hair and a beard. He was also injured quite badly – his hair was matted with congealed blood, his left eye was nothing but a puffy slit and his face was a mass of purple and black bruising. Neji also noticed many cuts on his face and hands, and the way the man moved suggested he had several broken ribs.**_

_**Neji overheard the three students question his injuries, learning that the man's name was 'Hagrid'. He also found out that Hagrid had been making contact with giants. The Ministry had been watching him, which was why he had been gone so long – **_**and also another reason not to trust the government, **_**Neji thought to himself. It seemed that Dumbledore had been trying to make an ally of these giants, but the Death Eaters, Voldemort-dono's servants, had beaten him to it. The remaining giants had been tricked or forced, one way or another, to agree with the Death Eaters, which was likely the cause of Hagrid's injuries.**_

_**Neji sensed someone approaching, and soon realised that it was Umbridge, clearly having come to see Hagrid. Ske knocked on the door and, when Hagrid opened it a moment later, she merely introduced herself before practically forcing her way into the hut.**_

_**"I was also wondering who else was here – I heard voices, and there are three sets of footprints in the snow leading to your cabin."**_

_**"Well, I on'y jus' got back, maybe someone came ter call earlier an' I missed 'em."**_

_**"There are no footprints leading away", Umbridge stated, before examining the cabin, looking underneath the bed, in the cupboards and throughout the hut. As she was doing so, she enquired about his injuries.**_

_**"I – I tripped", Hagrid responded.**_

_**"Where have you been? The term started two months ago, another teacher has had to cover your classes during your, hem, hem, unexplained absence."**_

_**"Oh, I've, er – been away for me health, bit o' fresh air, change o' scene."**_

_**"Mountain scenery?" she asked. **_**So, she knows something then,**_** Neji thought. Hagrid offered some excuse before Umbridge said: "You ought to know, too, that as High Inquisitor it is my unfortunate but necessary duty to inspect my fellow teachers. So I daresay we shall meet again soon enough." She turned sharply and marched towards the door.**_

_**"You're inspectin' us", Hagrid repeated.**_

_**"Oh, yes, the Ministry is determined to weed out unsatisfactory teachers, Hagrid. Goodnight."**_

"After that, Potter-san and his friends tried to determine Hagrid's lesson plans, to prevent him from being removed from his post", Neji finished.

"Well, it looks like Voldemort has had some sort of victory, but will these giants actually fight for him? Or are the Death Eaters just trying to prevent them from fighting for Dumbledore?" Tenten mused.

"Well, the others will arrive in a few weeks", Naruto said. "When they do, we should have the four of them split up and patrol with us, and the pairs should share the rooms as well."

"How do you want us to pair off, Naruto-sama?" Tenten asked.

"Gai and Kakashi, Lee and Tenten, Suigetsu and Neji and Sasuke will be with me."

"Really?" Kakashi replied, smirking under his mask. "Why those pairings, Hokage-kun?" Naruto growled before responding:

"Because we know our partners and would fight well with them, as well as having shared rooms or tents with them on previous missions", Naruto reasoned. "We'll keep the same shifts, just with different partners, and we won't need to use clones either." Naruto stood to go to bed, as did Neji, while Tenten left the room to start their patrols. Neji walked past Naruto to his room. Before Kakashi left, he said:

"Are you sure that's the only reason you put yourself with Sasuke?" he asked Naruto.

"Shut up you pervert", Naruto said, turning towards his own room.

"That's not what I meant", Kakashi said. Naruto didn't turn around as Kakashi continued: "Sasuke has been back for a while, and his motives are still a mystery, you're the only person who knows why he returned. After he killed Itachi, he had no reason to return, yet he did, and now claims to want to protect the village...I know I can't ask you to say what happened, and it probably wouldn't help me to know, but everything he does is still watched closely by the Elders."

"Believe me, I know", Naruto sighed. He went into his room and went to bed. Kakashi's visible eye narrowed slightly. _Why did Sasuke return?_ he asked himself. _He's obviously different from how he used to be, but the only thing he does that might have some sort of motive behind it is his relationship with Naruto, and Naruto isn't so stupid to start a relationship unless he trusted Sasuke. Although, that trust might not be so deserved, Sasuke could be tricking Naruto, tricking us all, he might have some ulterior motive...I don't believe there isn't some motive behind his return, and I might try to figure out what it is when Sasuke arrives – I'm not sure Naruto could handle him leaving again, and this time he would have to be declared a nuke-nin, even though he wasn't last time he left._ Kakashi joined Tenten outside their quarters, ready to start their shift. _Sasuke...why are you back? _he asked himself.

* * *

Harry moved his right arm rapidly in a wide circle, his arm fully outstretched with his wand in his hand, arm starting above his head and making the full circle in only a few seconds. A purple circle of light appeared between him and the practice dummy before him, just as a jet of purple-black light shot out of the arm of the dummy. The purple-black jet but was repelled by Harry's spell – for a moment the purple-black light filtered across the shield, but was soon absorbed into it.

"Looks like you've got it", Draco said from behind Harry.

"Yeah, so now we both can do it", Harry said, allowing his spell to dispel itself and the purple shield to dissipate in the air.

"Let me guess, you want to start straight on a new spell?" Draco asked, smiling at his boyfriend.

"Actually, there was something else I wanted to try." Draco looked at him as Harry turned to face him. "Hold this for me?" he asked, handing his wand to Draco.

"Sure, but what are you going to do without a wand?"

"Just something I've been reading about, which I wanted to try. Sorry I didn't tell you, but..."

"Don't worry", Draco replied, sinking into one of the armchairs. He crossed his legs and smirked slightly. "Let's see what you can do without your wand, then", he continued, twirling Harry's wand in his hand, his own wand inside his pocket. Harry turned towards the dummy and raised his right arm, fully outstretched, with his hand balled into a fist. He hissed something Draco couldn't understand and threw open his fist, blue-white light shooting from his fingertips to his the practice dummy. The dummy froze almost instantaneously, ice appearing around it from nowhere. Draco's eyes widened as the ice broke into many pieces and the dummy fell apart along with it. "That spell..."

"It was parselmagic", Harry said.

"I know, but...it was such a short spell...so quick...and...well...can you do that to a real person?"

"I guess so, I've not really tried, why do you ask?"

"Because that would kill your enemy. I know that you don't think the same way as everyone else, that you agree that this is a war, but..." Draco broke off as Harry sagged into the armchair opposite him.

"Well, it doesn't look like the spell is easy, and if it makes me this tired then I can't really use it in battle, can I?"

"Maybe after some practice it won't make you so tired", Draco suggested, standing up and holding Harry's wand out to him. Harry looked at it for a moment before taking it and tucking it back into his clothes.

Draco sat back down for a moment.

"Harry, about what I said after the Quidditch match...I'm sorry I brought your mother into it", Draco said.

"Don't worry about it, you had to insult me after all, we were in public", Harry responded, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "I never really met her, and it's not like the Light would tell me anything bad about one of their own who died. She may not have been as amazing as everyone says, and...I don't know it's just..."

"Just what?" Draco prompted.

"Sometimes I just feel like...she's nothing to me."

"Nothing?" Draco repeated. "That's a bit harsh, isn't it?"

"No, I just mean that...sometimes I feel like I have no connection to her, like she's not even really my mother...it's probably just as I never really met her, but...I don't even really know what I'm saying any more."

"Well then, just forget about it. Are you still having those dreams?" Draco asked, changing the subject even though they both knew that Harry wouldn't just forget about what he had just said.

"The ones with the corridor?" Harry asked. "Yeah, and I still don't know what's there. If I could just open the door, see what's inside, perhaps the dreams would go away."

"Perhaps you should try to force yourself to have the dream? Then you might have more control over it, rather than now when you can't go as far as you want", Draco suggested.

"Yeah, maybe", Harry sighed, sagging deeper into the armchair if that was possible. Draco stood up again and stepped over to Harry, pulling him to his feet.

"Draco, I need to sit down for a moment longer."

"Well, do it over here", Draco responded, pulling Harry over to the couch. He sat down, pulling Harry onto his lap, so Harry was straddling him, with his knees either side of Draco's legs.

"Draco, what are you..." Harry was interrupted by his boyfriend pulling his head down for a kiss. Draco slipped his tongue into Harry's mouth as his boyfriend started moaning on top of him, grinding down onto Draco's lap.

"Already hard?" Draco smirked, running his hand down towards Harry's crotch.

"You don't make it difficult", Harry panted, as Draco fondled his crotch expertly, his other hand moving to unbutton Harry's shirt and push it off. He laid Harry down on the couch, his bare back pressed against the fabric, as he continued to palm Harry through his trousers.

"Want me to continue? Or do you want to train some more, after all, you do seem to have your energy back", Draco commented. Harry didn't say anything, but grabbed Draco's hand pressing it against Harry's growing need. "Guess that's my answer then", Draco smirked. He pulled back from Harry for a moment, smirk widening as Harry arched upwards, seeking Draco's hands.

Draco stood up and pulled his own shirt off, watching as Harry's pupils dilated further. Harry moved his own hand down, opening his pants and sliding his hand inside, gripping his own cock and stroking himself. Draco unbuttoned his trousers before kneeling down beside the couch. He grabbed Harry's arm and pulled Harry's hand away from his cock. Harry whined slightly, but soon recovered as Draco tugged Harry's trousers down slightly. Harry pushed upwards so that Draco could pull his trousers down further, blushing as his body was bared to his boyfriend. He flushed deeper as Draco began rubbing Harry's cock, staring at it intently. He leaned forwards.

Harry had no warning as Draco's warm mouth descended, suckling on the tip of Harry's cock as his boyfriend blushed bright red and moaned deeply, arching up into Draco's mouth. Draco grabbed Harry's hips and pressed them down into the couch, sliding his mouth further down Harry's cock and swallowing. Harry's moans increased in pitch and volume as Draco bobbed his head up and down. Harry was vaguely aware of Draco moving one of his hands from Harry's hip and sliding it down towards his own crotch as he continued swallowing Harry down. It didn't take long for Harry to come in his boyfriend's mouth, screaming Draco's name as he did so. Draco moaned around Harry's cock as he continued suckling it, drawing out all of Harry's come from his now spent cock.

"Draco, I...come up here and I'll –"

"You don't need to", Draco said, lifting his come-covered hand up to his mouth and cleaning off his own come. Harry grabbed his arm and tugged slightly, bringing Draco's hand to his own mouth. Draco moaned as Harry sucked and licked on his hand until it was clean.

"That was amazing", Harry said as Draco stood up, pushing himself back into his trousers. Harry leaned upwards as Draco crouched again, pulling Harry's trousers back up and refastening them. He sat down on the couch, pulling his dark-haired boyfriend onto his lap and kissing him, both tasting each other's seed. Draco pulled back and leaned his forehead against Harry's, sighing softly against Harry's lips.

They remained in their position for some time, breath ghosting each other's faces.

"We have to go soon", Draco reminded Harry. Harry didn't respond, instead moving his head to press his ear against Draco's bare chest, both of their shirts still on the floor.

"I know", Harry said after a brief pause. He reluctantly stood up and picked up his discarded shirt, redressing himself. Draco did the same, before pulling Harry into a long, passionate kiss.

"I meant to ask you about your Defence group", Draco said, after they separated.

"Thanks to Ginny Weasley it's 'Dumbledore's Army', as if I actually would fight under that name. It's going okay, but it's nothing like what we do here", Harry responded, sighing.

"Well, it's not like they could learn this sort of stuff, too Dark for good little Gryffindors, right?"

"They're not all Gryffindors, but none are Slytherins, and I don't think any of them understand that this is a war. The Disarming Spell may have saved my life before, but only out of luck, yet I taught it to them as if it would definitely work for them."

"Try teaching them something a little more complex, something that they can use to attack their enemy", Draco suggested. "Even if they can't do it, at least you'll be able to do something a little more fun."

"You're probably right", Harry said. He grabbed his cloak and map and moved towards the door, Draco following him. They walked down to the dungeons in silence. When they arrived outside the Slytherin entrance, Draco pressed Harry up against the wall, both still under the cloak, for his goodnight kiss, before returning to his dorm. Harry returned through the castle to his own dorm, slipping silently into his bed not long after he had left Draco. He felt the parselmagic book under his pillow. _Draco's right, _he thought, _it's really powerful magic, not to mention deadly. But it's so tiring...I'll need to think about how to use some of these spells on a smaller scale...perhaps if I use that spell from earlier on something smaller than a person? If I froze a wand like that it probably wouldn't tire me out as much, and it would also stop most wizards, as most are completely reliant on their wands._ Harry yawned, sleep rapidly approaching. He settled down properly. _I'll carry on reading it tomorrow, _he told himself, _and I'll think about good ways to use the spells as I do so._

* * *

"Why that long?" Sasuke asked, gritting his teeth.

"Well," Tsunade began, "although Gai and Lee are fully recovered, I thought it would be best to give the wizards a little warning that a second team was coming. Besides, they will make something which will transport you there and Naruto will send it to me, so I've asked him to sort it out. It's only two more weeks Sasuke."

"Fine", Sasuke grunted.

"I'm sure you can find some training or something to do until then. And please tell Suigetsu this as well – where is he anyway?"

"He had something to do", Sasuke replied.

"Very well." Tsunade said, dismissing Sasuke from her office. Sasuke left, walking through the village towards the Uchiha district. _Two weeks,_ he groaned to himself. _It's already been two and a half months since I last saw Naruto, and I know it's only two more weeks, but still..._

"Good morning, Uchiha-san!" a way too cheerful voice interrupted his thoughts. Sasuke turned to the voice. The other man was wearing his usual green lycra outfit, with orange leg warmers and the standard flak jacket, as well as bandages covering his forearms and hands.

"Can I help you, Lee?"

"Tsunade-sama has informed me that we will leave soon on our mission to join Naruto-sama and the others in Britain! Before that, we should meet in combat my rival!"

"Sorry Lee, but I'm busy." Sasuke turned away from him.

"I see! You must have some super important training to do! I will do the same! Then we can meet in a battle with Youthful Spirits! I will train also...I will run around the village three times...no five...no, ten!" Lee ran off, presumably to get started. Sasuke sighed at his comrade's over-exuberant nature before continuing on his way.

As he got close to the Uchiha district he noticed Sai standing just outside the entrance to the district, speaking to Suigetsu. Sasuke jumped up into a tree to listen to their conversation.

"You'll have to continue in Britain, you know?" Sai was saying.

"Continue?" Suigetsu repeated.

"Asking Sasuke about his relationship with Naruto. Plus, you have Naruto there as well, and he blushes really easily...I once leant on him slightly and he freaked out – even though it's okay when Sasuke does it, and you could always ask Naruto about that, why Sasuke can be so close to him but no-one else can."

"I guess."

"What did he do to get revenge on you?" Sai asked. "I know what he did to me, but his plan won't work while I'm in Konoha, only when we were in Sunagakure, but what did he do to you?"

"He just...told me something."

"Are you sure it was true?"

"I...No, I'm not sure, but it probably was...Sasuke doesn't normally lie, he just bends the truth to suit his own purposes. That's the problem though...if what he told me is true – and it probably is – then..." Suigetsu broke off, thinking.

"Well, if you need anything, I can probably come up with a way to get back at him for you", Sai offered.

"Thanks, I think I'm fine." Sai nodded and left. Suigetsu looked after him for a moment before turning towards the main house, which he, Karin, Juugo and Sasuke all lived in, although it was so big that they could still easily avoid one another. _If Sasuke was right,_ Suigetsu thought to himself,_ and Karin does like me, then she probably knows by now that we're back...what do I say to her?_

While Suigetsu was thinking, Sasuke dropped down from the tree and walked up behind him.

"Something wrong?" Sasuke asked.

"Karin...If you were right, and she does like me..."

"What, you don't think the same about her?"

"No, she's insane, and annoying, and...and..."

"And?" Sasuke prompted.

"Shut up." Suigetsi walked away from Sasuke, not noticing the smirk on the Uchiha's face, and went into the main house. Sasuke followed a moment later.

"Welcome back Suigetsu, Sasuke", Karin greeted them.

"Hn", Sasuke said. Suigetsu didn't respond at all.

"How was your mission?" she asked.

"We'll be leaving for Britain in two weeks", Sasuke said, his annoyance at the amount of time he had to wait showing in his voice. He walked past her and upstairs, presumably to his bedroom.

"Oh, okay then", Karin said, not sure what to say. "That didn't really answer my question though." She looked at Suigetsu, as if she was waiting for him to give a different answer. He mumbled something and looked away from her, starting to blush. "What?" Karin asked.

"I said 'do you like me?'", Suigetsu repeated.

"Oh", Karin responded, blushing bright red. "Well, er – yeah, I do...is that okay?"

"I thought you'd be part of the Sasuke Uchiha fangirl club."

"Don't exaggerate, the girls here aren't that bad."

"I bet they were before he left", Suigetsu said. "And once they realise he's not evil they will be again _–_ and they might still be, after all, don't girls always like the bad boy?"

"Maybe, I guess _–_ er _–_ so, do you want to go and get a drink?"

"You mean, like, go out? Together? For drinks?" Suigetsu asked, blushing brighter.

"If you want to", Karin said, avoiding looking at him.

"Yeah, okay then", Suigetsu replied, also avoiding looking at her. The two of them left to go into the village.

Upstairs Sasuke was laid on his bed. He had heard most of their conversation – even when embarrassed, neither of them spoke particularly quietly, and his room was above the main part of the house, plus his windows were open as was the door into the house downstairs. He groaned to himself – _even if Suigetsu stays distracted for a little while, by the time we get to Britain he'll be fine again,_ Sasuke thought to himself. _Which means I'll have to deal with him bugging me again, and I'm sure Kakashi will want to join in. And Lee and Gai aren't exactly fun to be around for too long – I'm going to have a lot of headaches while I'm there. But, Naruto...at least he'll be there, and I bet I can find a way to get him alone..._

* * *

**A/N - Please read and review**

**Next Chapter - The Arrival of the Second Team!**


	10. 10 - The Arrival of the Second Team

Normal Text

_Thoughts_

**_Flashback_**

**Thoughts within a flashback**

SUMMARY: Albus hires shinobi to protect Harry (and Hogwarts) during Harry's fifth year. However, Harry has a secret that not even he knows about.

WARNINGS: SasuNaru, HarryxDraco, Drarry, SuiKarin

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or Naruto, they are the property of J. K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto respectively

**A/N - Thanks to everyone who favourited and/or followed this story and/or me and to the reviews! I now have 47 favourites and over 75 followers for this story!**

* * *

Harry was walking down one of the school corridors. It was a Saturday evening, three weeks since the Quidditch match, three weeks since his lifelong ban from Quidditch for 'attacking' Draco. That was the first time since the Welcoming Feast that any of the shinobi had revealed themselves – _I guess that they have been watching us for a while, _Harry thought to himself. _They probably use something to hide themselves, like my cloak, which can be easily thrown off, since that ninja was invisible to me when he grabbed me, I could only see him as we hit the floor. _Harry rounded a corner to see what was probably the majority of the student body looking out of the windows. These windows faced into the courtyard, and Harry briefly wondered what was so interesting, before he heard his name being shouted from down the corridor:

"Harry!" It was Hermione calling him, and he hurried down the corridor to join her and Ron, who were both looking out of the windows. Several of the teachers had gathered below, including Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape and Umbridge. What was probably more interesting was that one of the shinobi was there, the one who had grabbed Harry at the end of the Quidditch match three weeks ago, Naruto Uzumaki if Harry remembered correctly.

"What's going on?" he asked Hermione and Ron.

"Dunno mate", Ron replied. "But it's gotta be something interesting, right? Otherwise that ninja wouldn't be there too."

Below them the air seemed to shimmer slightly, before a portkey dropped off four people. It was apparent to all of the students leaning out of the window that these four newcomers were also ninjas, especially when the other ninja went to greet them. Harry studied the four people who had just arrived: two of them were dressed in the same sort of clothing, green lycra outfits with jackets over the top and orange legwarmers. They even had the same shiny black bowl cut hair and bushy eyebrows. They greeted Naruto by saluting him as if he were their leader. One of the others had very pale blue hair and was dressed in a purple vest-top and grey trousers. However, what attracted the most attention was the massive sword strapped to his back by a belt around his waist. The last had spiky black hair, and was wearing a high-collared white shirt and a dark piece of material around his waist, over his trousers, held there by a purple rope knotted in a loose bow around his front. He was also carrying a sword, tucked through the rope-belt on his right side.

"Three of them are young again", Ron noted.

"It's like they aren't taking this seriously", Hermione agreed. "There are now eight of them here but only two are adults, presumably the ones in charge. Plus the way those two –" she indicated Gai and Lee "– are saluting that other one, as if he's their boss, it's like they're mocking him, yet he doesn't care."

"And that one with the massive sword," Ron began, "it's not like he could probably even use it, he hasn't got any muscles, so what's it for, just to look scary? And the other one looks completely disinterested."

"I agree", Hermione said. Harry remained silent through this, looking at the four newcomers – _perhaps age isn't as important to them? _he wondered. _After all, that blond can't be much older than me, if he is older at all, yet he seems to be in charge. The two who look similar still seem like they can fight well, and all of them hold themselves as if they are expecting a fight. I don't think that pale-haired boy would be carrying that sword if he couldn't use it, and as for that one which Hermione called 'disinterested', I think he's looking around to assess everything, not because he doesn't care._

"What do you think Harry?" Hermione asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"Dunno. I guess we'll see what they do", he replied, deciding not to reveal any of his thoughts to the other two.

"Well, after what happened a few weeks ago, everyone has been wondering what they do", Hermione said. "That was the first time any of them showed themselves, and it was just one of them. There have been loads of rumours going around about their powers."

"Like what?" Harry asked curiously – he often ignored gossip, but he wondered if some would at least be accurate, especially if anyone else had seen the ninjas at any point before or since the match.

"Well, like they can turn invisible, and they do so to follow some of us around – if true, probably the Slytherins or you", she said to Harry. "Dumbledore may have claimed that he hired them to protect the school, but I bet that they are actually supposed to protect you. Also, people have been saying that they can come and go from the school as they please and that they can go anywhere within the school, including the common rooms and dorms. Also, they apparently use the library a lot." Harry reacted slightly to that, as he already knew that at least one of them used the library, having seen him in there on the map and in person. He wondered how many of the rumours were true.

"What do they want in the library?" Ron asked.

"Who knows?" Hermione responded. "Maybe to find out more about our powers? After all, I don't know how much of a connection there is between our two worlds, I didn't even know they really existed until this year, which means that the wizarding world probably didn't know much about them."

"Maybe", Harry agreed, ignoring Hermione's arrogant comment. He left Hermione and Ron in the corridor to return to his common room.

In the shinobi quarters, Kakashi was standing by the window, looking down into the courtyard, while Neji and Tenten were sat at the table. As the new team arrived, he again wondered to himself about Sasuke's motivations – _why did he return? Why does he seem so interested in this place? Why was he so determined to come to Britain? Was it all for Naruto?_ Below him, Naruto bowed respectfully to the teachers before leading the other shinobi into the castle. _I guess they'll be here soon, _Kakashi said to himself, _and then I can work on figuring out Sasuke._

* * *

As Naruto led the newly arrived second team through the school, he explained a few things about the school, including the moving staircases and talking portraits, which Gai and Lee were loudly noticing.

"Even though it's an old castle, you can just feel all the Youthful Spirit here, can't you Lee?"

"Oh yes, Gai-sensei. We should offer to spar with some of the students later!"

"That might not be the best idea", Naruto advised. "None of them seem to be able to actually fight, at least not like we do. Their fights generally seem to consist of standing opposite one another and throwing spells around."

"Like a ninjustu-only fight?" Suigetsu asked.

"Not really", Naruto mused. "If they can't block what's going to hit them, it generally just hits them, they don't really get taught to move out of the way, although I imagine in an actual fight they would move out of some sort of survival instinct."

"Seems stupid", Suigetsu grumbled.

The five of them had reached the portrait leading into the shinobi quarters.

"Ok", Naruto said. "To get into most of the private places, like common rooms and quarters, everyone needs a password, which is why we can't access the common rooms or teacher's quarters."

"So what is the password, Naruto-sama?" Lee asked excitedly. Naruto faced the person in the portrait.

"Chikara", he said. **(see A/N at bottom of page)** Sasuke started slightly, but otherwise didn't react, and the others merely looked at Naruto. "We needed something which none of the wizards would guess, and wouldn't be something they might overhear from us, like 'Hokage' or 'Byakugan' or 'ramen'", Naruto explained, as if his choice in password was the most obvious choice after everything which might be guessed by the wizards had been dismissed. He led the way into the quarters.

As they entered, the three shinobi already inside looked in their direction. Kakashi walked over from the window to sit down as Gai jumped into a seat beside him.

"It has been too long my Esteemed Rival!" Gai said. "We need to compete again soon, I will not allow you to continue to be ahead of me!"

"I don't even know the score", Kakashi responded lazily. Lee sat down on the other side of Gai, who looked at Kakashi before bursting into dramatic tears.

"Oh, my Rival! You are so kind to pretend to forget that you are defeating me! I will repay this kindness by challenging you even more than usual while we are here!" Kakashi sighed in response. Suigestu took Kubikiribocho off his back and leant it against the table, sitting down in a chair beside it. He continued to grip the hilt. Sasuke sat down in the last remaining seat, between Naruto and Kakashi.

"Okay," Naruto began, interrupting Gai's over-dramatic crying, "firstly, we should give you all a brief overview of everything that's happened so far, before our shifts change. There are shadow clones of each of us patrolling at the moment. Gai and Lee, will you be okay to patrol straight away?" he asked, knowing from experience that the wizards' transportation devices made those who used them somewhat tired.

"Of course, Naruto-sama, our Youthful Spirits will not fail us!" Gai responded with a thumbs-up and a glint in his teeth, his tears having suddenly stopped. Outside the window, the sun began to set, as if in response to Gai's over-exuberance.

"Right, well, we have been patrolling in pairs, two at night and two during the day, using shadow clones so that there are four of us on patrol at any one time", Naruto continued. "We have been using genjutsu to hide our presence, so the shinobi haven't really seen us at all – there is a complicated political climate here at the moment, so it's best to avoid questions by hiding our presence. The four of you are going to join up in new pairs with us. As Gai and Lee can't do genjutsu, they can take the night patrols with Kakashi and Tenten. Suigetsu will be with Neji and Sasuke with me for the day patrols. There are four bedrooms, each with two beds, and we have had one bedroom each so far, so we can share rooms in those pairs as well. Okay?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama", Gai and Lee saluted.

"Yeah sure", Suigetsu added. Sasuke didn't say anything, merely jerking his head in agreement. Naruto, clearly used to his teammate's lack of verbal communication skills, moved on.

"Okay, well we normally change over shifts around now, as all of the students are in their common rooms, although some of them have set up this secret training group which meets some evenings", Naruto said.

"Why secret?" Suigetsu asked.

"There is a teacher here who is involved in politics and has banned such things", Neji explained.

"She's also the person supposed to be teaching them Defence, but all she does is have them read from books, as apparently that's enough to pass their exams", Tenten added.

"What about in actual fights?" Suigetsu asked.

"The government is refusing to accept that Voldemort-dono is alive, so she is denying that they would ever be involved in a fight", Kakashi responded.

"That still makes no sense, surely there are other enemies?" Suigetsu continued.

"Yeah, but she is just trying to make it clear that there is no threat", Naruto said. "Like I said, the political situation here is complicated."

"Okay then", Suigestu replied, although his tone showed that he thought Umbridge's reasoning was flawed.

"For the most part, the students are taught a variety of different things, some of which are more to do with everyday life than fighting, as well as history and things like that", Kakashi said.

"What about this secret group?" Lee asked eagerly.

"They only seem to be studying things which they should already be capable of", Naruto responded.

"Although, they did mention that Potter-san is capable of something called a 'Patronus' which isn't part of the curriculum at all", Neji added. "It seems to be a way of beating off certain creatures known as 'Dementors' which can suck out a person's soul. The spell take the form of a silvery animal, different animals for each person based on personality. The conjured animals can also be used to send messages."

"That seems very unusual", Kakashi commented.

"And powerful", Tenten added. "So I guess the point that the students were making is that Harry is a powerful wizard, which makes sense if he's the one destined to defeat Voldemort-dono."

"Okay, well, we should probably start on our patrols", Kakashi said, standing up.

"Of course my Rival!" Gai announced, jumping up to follow Kakashi. Lee also jumped to his feet:

"I agree Gai-sensei. Let us start immediately Tenten-san!" Tenten sighed and went to follow them, all four leaving the quarters. Neji stood up and turned to Suigetsu:

"Come with me, I'll show you which room is ours."

"Sure", Suigetsu replied, following Neji. Naruto stood up and looked at Sasuke.

"We should probably do the same, we have patrols starting tomorrow", Naruto said.

"Hn", was the only reply he got.

"Why are you being so silent?" Naruto asked. "I know you normally don't talk much, but you normally make an exception for me, especially since you came back."

"It's nothing, I'm just tired", Sasuke responded. Naruto looked at him, not sure if he should believe him or not. "So, we're sharing a room are we, dobe?" Sasuke said, smirking at Naruto. Naruto forgot his problems with Sasuke's silence.

"Shut up, teme!" he said in reply. "Now, come on, we should get some rest." Sasuke followed Naruto, still smirking slightly as he thought about what he could do to Naruto now that they were sharing a bedroom.

* * *

The following morning, Sasuke was beginning his patrols around the school. The second team had brought some messages for Naruto with them, including the one from Gaara, which hadn't been sent earlier as Sasuke thought it might have been. Sasuke again found himself wondering what Gaara had said to Naruto. Sasuke was also worried due to what had happened the previous night, or rather what didn't happen – he though Naruto's actions may be due to whatever Gaara had said, yet when he found out this morning that Naruto hadn't yet read the message he became concerned about what had happened:

_**"So, where do you want to sleep?" Sasuke asked, wrapping his arms around Naruto's waist from behind. Naruto shrugged off Sasuke's arms.**_

_**"This is my bed so that's yours", he said.**_

_**"I know, you said that already, but whose bed do you want to sleep in?"**_

_**"We sleep separately any other time."**_

_**"Yes, but now we don't have to, we share a room, no-one will come in without knocking, and then we can play all we want", Sasuke said, smirking at Naruto.**_

_**"Just go to bed. Your own bed", he added when Sasuke made to get into Naruto's bed.**_

_**"Can I at least have a goodnight kiss?"**_

_**"No", Naruto responded firmly, getting into his bed. He rolled over so his back was to Sasuke and closed his eyes.**_

_**"Come on, dobe, I haven't seen you in almost three months, don't I at least get something? Or have I done something to annoy you?" Naruto remained silent. Sasuke did attempt to get into bed behind him, but was pushed out immediately, landing uncomfortably on the floor. He sighed and went to get into his own bed.**_

_What if he knows? _Sasuke asked himself. _Or even if he's just annoyed that he doesn't? I knew sooner or later my true motives behind returning would be revealed, and I knew that they could upset Naruto, but it's not like I'm going to end things with him...am I?_

In the shinobi quarters, Naruto shivered slightly, wondering if someone was thinking about him. He had just read a message from Tsunade, which relayed to him some of the Elders' comments about Sasuke – which consisted of various suggestions from Sasuke still being evil and working for the Akatsuki, to him wanting to destroy the Leaf and/or the Rokudaime, and there were even suggestions that Sasuke had just gone insane and didn't know his own reasons for his actions. They even suggested that Sasuke had gone completely insane and had returned as he had forgotten he was evil! Naruto sighed to himself – _I doubt Sasuke is working for the Akatsuki,_ he said to himself, _after all, he killed Itachi, one of the members. Everything he did was so that he could kill Itachi, so maybe he just decided to return as he had accomplished his goal? Maybe he has a new goal? __I doubt he would return to destroy me or the Leaf, he could do that easier by not returning. And he's not insane_ _– and suggesting he's forgotten he's evil is just moronic. _I didn't talk to him about his reasons last night, even though I did decide a while back to ask Sasuke when he arrived in Britain, but I will talk to him soon. _I didn't let him touch me either because I need to talk to him about our relationship as well, and I won't let him get me into bed until we talk. That's for later though._ He reached for the next message addressed to the 'Rokudaime Hokage' and noted that it was from Gaara. _It must have been brought back by Sasuke's team from their mission, _Naruto figured. He opened the scroll and read the message.

_Naruto,_

_I thought you should be informed about Sasuke's actions while on his recent mission here. I have not relayed this to the Godaime Hokage, as I don't believe she would be able to have an effect on Sasuke, unlike you._

_Firstly, you should be aware that several people in the Leaf are aware of your relationship with Sasuke, including his team while here, Sai, Hozuki Suigetsu and Mitarashi Anko. I'm unsure how exactly they found out, or what the repercussions will be if any of them choose to reveal this information. Sai and Suigetsu decided to mock Sasuke on their journey here, as well as once they had arrived, mostly asking him personal questions to get a rise out of him, but I believe they did so secretly, so your relationship should not be too widely known about._

_Sasuke responded by enacting a plan to distract them. I do not know what he did to Hozuki, but he used me for his plan against Sai, likely as he was jealous of my bond with you, as a friend and as a former jinchuriki. He attempted to trick both Sai and I into believing that we liked each other, however Sai realised that it was Sasuke's doing before any political situation could arise._

_I expect you will talk to Sasuke about this. I did not inform Tsunade-sama, as I did not want to tell her of your relationship in case she is unaware of it. Also, she may have been forced to reveal the information to the Elders, who I expect dislike Sasuke to some extent already – they do not need more issues with him._

_When you return from Britain, perhaps we could have a diplomatic visit – preferably with some non-diplomatic events? I would have no problem in making Sasuke jealous even more and I would like to speak with you soon my friend._

_Gaara, Godaime Kazekage_

Naruto set down the scroll, smiling to himself – _so, I guess Sasuke cares about me at least in some ways, or he wouldn't have been so jealous of Gaara. I will have to tell him that he shouldn't have risked a political situation like that...but, he did it for me._ Naruto's grin widened. He put the scrolls in his and Sasuke's room, hiding them so that Sasuke wouldn't find them, as he knew that he teammate would go looking for the message from Gaara, and he could read it in secret now that the seal on the scroll had been broken by Naruto opening it.

When Naruto joined Sasuke in the corridors around twenty minutes later, he was still smiling.

"What are you smiling about, dobe?" Sasuke asked, looking a little annoyed.

"Nothing, just something Gaara said in his message to me." _That proves you care about me,_ he added silently.

"Right", Sasuke responded. _What did that redheaded raccoon say that would make __my__ Naruto smile like that?! I will find a way to get back at him for this, I don't care if he's the Kazekage, or if it would cause a political situation, he has to realise that Naruto belongs to me!_

* * *

A few days later, Naruto still hadn't managed to bring himself to talk to Sasuke. Sasuke was likewise growing agitated as Naruto still refused to even hug him, let alone go any further, even when Sasuke used all of his charms on Naruto. It was now Tuesday afternoon, and Naruto and Sasuke were following Harry and his friends through the snow to their Care of Magical Creatures lesson. As they arrived, Sasuke noticed that the professor was badly injured. He had learnt that this particular teacher had been away for a while and returned with injuries, however, those should have been healing by now, whereas some of these were fresh injuries. Hagrid avoided the questions from the students about his wounds and started the class, dropping a large animal carcass on the ground and making an odd shrieking cry. The students were standing at the edge of the forest, Naruto and Sasuke a little way back from them.

Before long, a skeletal winged horse, completely black, emerged from the forest. It looked around for a moment, swishing its long black tail, then bowed its head to tear flesh from the carcass with its pointed fangs. Sasuke and Naruto looked at the odd creature, as another emerged from the forest as well, joining the first in tearing flesh from the carcass which Hagrid had brought for them.

"Now", Hagrid said. "Put yer hands up – who can see 'em?"

Harry raised his hand, as did Neville Longbottom. Naruto looked at Sasuke, realising that both he and the other shinobi could see them as well. He looked towards Hagrid, waiting for an explanation, as the students who couldn't see the creatures looked at the carcass, which, from their point of view, was being eaten by something invisible.

"What's doing it?" one of the girls asked, scared. "What's eating it?"

"Thestrals", Hagrid replied proudly. "Righ', so who can tell me why some of you can see 'em an' some can't?"

Hermione raised her hand: "The only people who can see Thestrals are those who've seen death."

Naruto looked towards Sasuke: "Oi, teme, do you think that means that only a couple of students in the class have seen people die? I thought they were in a war."

"Looks like the students are insulated from it", Sasuke replied evenly.

"Tha's exactly right", Hagrid said solemnly, responding to Hermione's answer.

"Hem, hem." Professor Umbridge had arrived, walking down the path beside the forest just past Sasuke and Naruto, not noticing them due to their genjutsu.

"Oh, hello", Hagrid said smiling. "We're doin' Thestrals today –"

"Excuse me?"

"You know, Thestrals? Big – er – winged horses, you know", Hagrid replied, flapping his arms. Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows at him and made a note on her clipboard, reading it out as she did so.

"Has...to...resort...to...crude...sign...language."

"Well – er – what was I sayin'?"

"Appears...to...have...poor...short...term...memory", Umbridge continued, muttering loudly enough that everyone could hear her. She continued in her normal sickly sweet voice, addressing Hagrid: "Are you aware that the Ministry has classified Thestrals as 'dangerous'?"

"Thestrals aren' dangerous! Yeah they might take a bite outta yeh of yeh really annoy them –"

"Shows...signs...of...pleasure...at...the...idea...of...violence."

"No – come on, I mean a dog'll bite yeh if yeh bait it, won' it?"

Umbridge ignored his question, instead stating that she was going to ask the students questions. As she spoke she pointed towards the class and her mouth. Hagrid looked at her in confusion, wondering why she was addressing him using hand motions as though he didn't understand English.

Hagrid tried to continue talking about Thestrals, but Umbridge was questioning the students too loud for him to do so. She was also focussing on the Slytherins, who were much more likely to give negative answers about him. She also asked Neville who it was that he saw die, and decided that his nervous response was out of fear towards the Thestrals and, by extension, Hagrid. By this point, Hagrid had given up on attempting to speak to the class, and the lesson was coming to an end anyway.

"Well, I think I have all I need", Umbridge said, smiling sweetly. "I'm sure you can dismiss your own class, can't you?" she continued.

Before Hagrid could respond, the whole class suddenly heard loud noises coming down the path from the school, which Umbridge had come down a while earlier. Two of the shinobi ran past the class:

"Come on, Lee, I must complete 50 laps of the grounds as punishment for losing to Kakashi in that game of shogi!" one shouted.

"Of course, Gai-sensei, I will do so as well, then I will be able to get my own Rival!" the other replied, tears streaming dramatically down his face.

"Oh, Lee, you are so Youthful!" the first shouted, a glint flashing on his teeth.

Naruto and Sasuke looked as their comrades ran past the class, unsurprised at both their behaviour and the fact that they were training having only finished their patrols around six hours previously.

"Do they sleep?" Naruto asked, groaning slightly at the thought of the explanation he may have to provide to the wizards. Sasuke didn't respond.

The students stared at them, some open-mouthed, surprised at the actions of the newly-arrived ninjas. Umbridge looked livid, as though she had been interrupted by their training. She stormed off back to the castle as Hagrid dismissed the class. Harry, Ron and Hermione walked back towards the castle, Naruto and Sasuke following them at a discrete distance.

"Why are we following them usuratonkachi?"

"Firstly, our primary mission objective is to protect the students, specifically Harry Potter. Also, I want to know their reaction in case I have to offer an explanation for Gai and Lee's actions."

"Just say that it's none of their business." Naruto rolled his eyes in response, listening to the conversation in front of them.

"What the hell was that?" Hermione asked.

"Well, you can't have actually expected Umbridge to be nice to Hagrid, remember what happened when he returned to the castle a few weeks ago?" Harry responded.

"That was obvious, but what about those ninjas? What were they doing?!"

"Training?" Ron suggested.

"The older one said it was a punishment for losing in a game of shogi to one of the other ninjas", Harry recalled. "So perhaps it was excessive training in punishment and the younger one decided to join his mentor?"

"Mentor?" Ron repeated.

"Well, 'sensei' means teacher, right?" Harry asked.

"What, you speak Japanese?" Hermione asked.

"They were speaking English, and 'sensei' is a common enough word."

"Whatever", Hermione said dismissively. "That still doesn't explain why they were being so open about it."

"If they weren't open about it that would be okay then?" Harry asked.

"No, them hiding is getting annoying!" Ron replied.

"I don't understand then, what do you want?" Harry asked the other two.

"Them to behave more properly", Hermione replied. Ron nodded his agreement. The two of them missed Harry's reply, although Naruto caught it with his more-than-human hearing:

"So fucking stupid, don't even make sense...stupid Gryffindors."

The two wizards and witch continued into the castle. Naruto stopped, Sasuke pausing beside him.

"What do you think that was about?" Naruto asked.

"What?" Sasuke responded.

"Oh, right, sorry, I forget that my hearing is better than most people's."

"Not all of us get to have the sort of abilities you have."

"Was that a compliment?" Naruto asked cheekily. When Sasuke ignored him Naruto continued: "Under his breath, Harry muttered that his friends were stupid and don't make sense, then insulted them for being Gryffindors."

"Yet he's a Gryffindor? It seems like he has something to hide."

"He has this unusual ability to hide that Kakashi barely managed to see through with his Sharingan – it's not part of the curriculum, and Kakashi hasn't yet found any mention of what it could be in the library. We do know, however, that he snuck a book from the Restricted Section, and the secret training group meets in a hidden room that Harry seemed to already know about, although he did come up with an excuse to his friends about how he heard of it."

"Perhaps we should follow him more. We can excuse it as part of our mission objective, and perhaps we can find out what it is he has to hide."

"Good idea", Naruto agreed. "Neji and Suigetsu can patrol the castle and we can follow Harry around. Although, it will involve a lot of standing around watching his classes, which sometimes only involve reading or listening to lectures." Naruto moved to go into the castle, intending to catch up with Harry and his friends. He lifted his hands, deciding to make a shadow clone to tell Neji and Suigetsu about the plan, but Sasuke gripped his hands before he could make the seals, and pushed him up against the outer wall of the castle, Naruto's back pressed against the cold stone. Sasuke planted his hands on either side of Naruto's head and leaned towards him, whispering into Naruto's ear.

"Why don't you tell me why you've been avoiding me lately, Naruto?" Sasuke asked, emphasising the last word.

"I...I – er – I don't know what you mean", Naruto said weakly, trying to ignore the way Sasuke's breath was tickling his ear. "Stop it", he continued, bringing his hands to Sasuke's chest in a futile attempt to push the other male away from him.

"Almost three months – you finally get to see me again and you won't let me even hug you. I missed you, you know...and I don't think it would be a good idea for you to keep ignoring me."

"Are you threatening me, I am the Hokage now, you can't –" Naruto was interrupted by Sasuke pressing his lips firmly against Naruto's. Naruto moaned into the kiss, fisting his hands in the front of Sasuke's shirt. Sasuke pulled back, smirking at Naruto's flushed face and wet lips. Naruto licked his lips, tasting Sasuke on them.

"We should probably catch up with Potter, right, Hokage?" Sasuke asked teasingly.

"Er – yeah", Naruto replied. As Sasuke walked into the castle, Naruto decided he had to talk to Sasuke that night – he knew Sasuke was going to continue his actions when they were in their room that night, and he wanted to know Sasuke's motives before he gave in to his dark-haired comrade – and he knew that he wouldn't last much longer before he gave in.

* * *

Later that evening Naruto decided to have another meeting with the other seven shinobi. He wanted to know what the second team thought about Hogwarts and Britain, having been there for a few days now. He also wanted to tell Neji and Suigetsu that he and Sasuke would be following Harry and his two friends closely – he had forgotten to do so earlier due to Sasuke's, ahem, distraction. He sat down at the table with the others.

"So, you guys have been here a few days now, what do you think?"

"I think that the students are full of Youthful Spirit!" Gai said exuberantly, Lee nodding exaggeratedly at his side.

"I agree, Gai-sensei!" he responded.

"Okay then", Naruto asked, used to their actions by now.

"I still think they should learn more about fighting if there is a war going on", Suigetsu grumbled. "I know you explained why they weren't being taught combat but that toad's reasoning makes no sense."

"I know. And please don't compare her with a toad, they are much better than she is", Naruto replied. He looked briefly at Sasuke, but it was clear he wasn't going to offer any of his own thoughts.

"Ok then. I also wanted to say that Sasuke and I are going to follow Harry and his friends closer so you two –" he indicated Neji and Suigetsu "– will be patrolling the castle mostly on your own. We will be here still so you won't need clones, but you'll need to patrol the whole school not just half of it."

"Yes, Hokage-sama", Neji replied. Suigetsu nodded his agreement as well.

"The only other thing is...what were you two doing earlier?" Naruto asked Gai and Lee. "You ran past Umbridge and a class full of students shouting at each other about losing and training."

"We're so sorry, Hokage-sama", Lee said, tears beginning to stream down his face.

"Yes, we are, but I had to take my punishment for being defeated by my Esteemed Rival, Kakashi", Gai said, also starting to cry dramatically. He and Lee wrapped their arms around each other, continuing to cry profusely as the sun dropped below the horizon outside the window.

"I just meant that you should be more careful", Naruto said. "The rest of us use genjutsu so that the wizards can't see us...I know you two can't do that, but you still need to remember that the wizards are very...uptight about these things, and I might have to explain why you were acting that way."

"I beat Gai in shogi", Kakashi said lazily from behind his book. "He decided on the punishment, and Lee decided to do it as well, to 'train', as he put it."

"Just shogi?" Tenten asked. "Don't you normally compete in things that are more...well, weird?"

"Not always", Kakashi replied, flipping a page in his book.

"I guess", Tenten responded, remembering the time she, Lee and Neji had witnessed Gai challenge Kakashi to a game of rock-paper-scissors, not long after they became Gai's genin team.

"Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?" Suigetsu asked. "I'm getting tired, and wandering around the castle all day isn't much fun either."

"No, that was everything", Naruto replied. Everyone stood up and left the room, Gai, Kakashi, Lee and Tenten to patrol and Neji, Suigetsu, Naruto and Sasuke to go to bed.

As the door to their room closed behind them, and the usual magic automatically silenced the door so that no-one could hear through it, Naruto sighed deeply. He had firmly decided he would find out tonight the reason or reasons behind Sasuke's return.

"Sasuke, we need to talk about something important", Naruto said seriously, facing away from his comrade. Sasuke came up behind Naruto, curling his arms around Naruto's waist and pulling Naruto's back against his front.

"What's that?" he breathed into Naruto's ear. Naruto tried to struggle free, attempting to ignore Sasuke's seductions.

"I need to know why you – ah! – came back to the village", Naruto said, moaning when Sasuke bit down on his neck, surely leaving a mark behind.

"I'd much rather continue our earlier conversation", Sasuke said, the smirk on his face audible in his voice. He turned Naruto around and pushed him up against the closest wall, standing in the same position as the two had been in earlier that day outside the castle. Naruto tried to ask Sasuke again, but Sasuke stopped the question by sealing his lips over Naruto's, one hand leaving the wall to press against the growing bulge in Naruto's pants.

"Sas-Sasuke! Ah! I – I need to know why – fuck – you came back – yes!" Naruto half said, half moaned, as Sasuke continued to rub against his growing hardness. Sasuke didn't respond, merely smirking at Naruto, before dropping to his knees and mouthing at Naruto's cloth-covered erection. "Sasuke! Please!" Naruto begged, his question forgotten due to his growing desire. Sasuke slid his hands under Naruto's shirt, one moving up to rub at Naruto's nipples while the other moved around to the small of Naruto's back, fingers splayed.

Sasuke stood back up abruptly, practically ripping off Naruto's clothing before shoving him onto Sasuke's bed. He climbed over Naruto and kissed him again, pressing his clothed body against Naruto's naked one, causing the blond to shiver slightly. Sasuke pressed his leg between Naruto's grinding against Naruto's now unclothed erection. He pulled back briefly to strip himself of his clothes before leaning back down, placing his lips over Naruto's again as his fingers reached down between Naruto's legs and further back, probing at his puckered entrance. Naruto let out a long moan as two of Sasuke's fingers breached his entrance and pushed deep inside, scissoring. Sasuke quickly added two more fingers, stretching Naruto briefly before withdrawing his fingers and entering in one smooth thrust. He allowed the blond no time to adjust before thrusting roughly in and out. Naruto keened loudly, moaning as each thrust hit his prostate dead on. Sasuke grunted as well, as Naruto's body clenched around him, making Naruto impossibly tight. He leaned over Naruto so that they were nose to nose, breathing on each other's faces, before kissing him deeply. As Naruto's moans increased in pitch and frequency, Sasuke realised that Naruto was about to come, so he leaned down to Naruto's neck and bit the same spot as he had marked earlier that day, biting down hard enough to draw blood. Naruto stilled for a brief second before practically screaming Sasuke's name, arching his back as he came in thick white ribbons across his stomach. Sasuke lasted a few more thrusts before he succumbed to the overwhelming tightness and came as well, deep inside Naruto's body.

He withdrew his softening cock from Naruto's body and reached down to the floor, grabbing a random article of clothing to clean them both up, then throwing it back down to the floor. He manoeuvred them both so that they were lying under the covers of his bed, noticing that Naruto had already fallen asleep. He kissed Naruto softly on the head and wrapped his arms around the sleeping blond, cuddling him close. _Should I feel guilty? _Sasuke asked himself. _Sooner or later Naruto will get an answer to his question, he'll know why I returned...can we stay together when that happens? Will he understand? I'm doing what I have to do to restore my clan, I'm doing what Itachi wanted me to...but I want to stay with Naruto. No – I will stay with Naruto, whatever it takes. Maybe Naruto won't mind, or maybe I'll just keep it from him...either way, I won't lose him, besides, so many people know about us by now that if anything did happen then I'd be facing a mob of angry people loyal to Naruto, not to mention the SasuNaru fanclub that Karin thinks I don't know about...We'll stay together, I'll find a way, after all, I'm only doing what I have to do, and Naruto knows how important restoring my clan is to me._

* * *

**A/N - 'Chikara' means 'power', Sasuke's favourite word according to the databooks - so the password Naruto picked is Sasuke's favourite word...**

**A/N - Please read and review**

**Next Chapter - Harry's dream, Christmas and Naruto gets Sasuke to talk!**


	11. 11 - The Christmas Holidays

Normal Text

_Thoughts_

**_Flashback_**

**Thoughts within a flashback**

SUMMARY: Albus hires shinobi to protect Harry (and Hogwarts) during Harry's fifth year. However, Harry has a secret that not even he knows about.

WARNINGS: SasuNaru, HarryxDraco, Drarry, SuiKarin

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or Naruto, they are the property of J. K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto respectively

**A/N - Thanks to everyone who favourited and/or followed this story and/or me and to the reviews! I now have 50 favourites and over 80 followers for this story!**

* * *

It was now around halfway into December, and the days were getting shorter as the Christmas holidays rapidly approached. The meetings of Dumbledore's army had continued, as had the shinobi patrols. Harry and Draco had met on their usual Saturday night, the last time they would be able to meet until after the holidays. Draco was sitting in one of the armchairs, watching as Harry practised parselmagic. He had mastered the freezing spell he had tried some weeks previously, and had just successfully frozen and shattered multiple hands and arms from several practice dummies which had appeared at his thought.

"I think you've got it", Draco noticed.

"Yeah, I think so too – I can't directly kill anyone, but I can destroy wands, hands and arms, which will get rid of their magic. After that, the witch or wizard can't really do anything anymore."

"Didn't you want to practice a new spell?"

"Yeah, but I can't do it on these dummies, I need something that's actually alive."

"I suppose I shouldn't offer?"

"Not unless you have a death wish", Harry smirked at Draco, who stood up and crossed the room to hug his boyfriend. Harry wrapped his arms around Draco, who then pulled back to press a chaste kiss to Harry's lips.

"So, something alive?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, like a plant or something..." Harry mused. A large cactus in a pot appeared in place of the half-destroyed practice dummies.

"A cactus?" Draco asked.

"Full of water", Harry offered in explanation, before pushing Draco away slightly to turn towards the plant. Draco stepped back and watched as Harry hissed a spell at the cactus, which slowly began to shrivel up, as if...

"You're drawing out all the water?" Draco asked in amazement.

"Yeah", Harry breathed out, feeling a slight rush at how easy it seemed to master parselmagic spells – both of the spells he'd tried so far had worked the first time, even if he was a little ambitious both times. He stepped away from the cactus and sat down on the couch. "Perhaps I should have chosen a plant with less water in it", he continued.

"I thought you wanted one with lots of water?"

"I did, I wasn't sure if it would be difficult to find the moisture and draw it out, but I can't draw out all of the liquid when there's so much."

"How would you use that in a battle?" Draco asked, sitting down on the couch beside Harry.

"I'm not sure, but I figured I could make my opponent collapse from dehydration, or make their hand so shrivelled they couldn't hold their wand...something like that", Harry mused.

"Sounds painful", Draco said, pulling Harry into a cuddle. The two sat in silence for a moment.

"We won't meet until after the New Year now, unless we see each other outside this room somewhere, in which case we'll have to be horrible to each other", Harry mentioned.

"I know", Draco responded, hugging him tighter.

"Do you want to do anything?"

"No, I just want to cuddle you for a bit. We've been practising for a few hours, we're both pretty tired, but...do you think we could spend the night in here? We can easily ask the Room for a bed and a bathroom", Draco suggested.

"Draco, I don't think I'm ready for..."

"I don't want sex, I just don't want to leave you yet. My dormmates will be sleeping in late tomorrow, so I should be okay to sleep here – and that's all I want, sleep, nothing more."

"Really? Well, I guess it would be nice to just be able to sleep curled up around you, but...oh screw it, let's stay here."

"Are you sure?"

"Most of my dormmates will sleep in late as well", Harry said. "We can ask the Room for a bed and a bathroom, as well as a fresh change of clothes for the morning. Plus we can use my Cloak to sneak back to our common rooms tomorrow, and just tell people we went out early if they ask."

"Sounds good to me", Draco agreed. He closed his eyes for a moment and the room changed. The couch and armchairs were left there, as was the fireplace, which roared to life, but the rest of their normal room disappeared. Instead of the training area and bookcases, a large four-poster bed, draped in green and silver covers appeared. On the armchair near them appeared two sets of clothes, which Harry realised were for the two of them. He stood up and went over towards a door which appeared in the wall and looked inside. It was a bathroom, but a massive one – the bathtub was as large as the one in the Prefect's bathroom, as well as a toilet and a decent-sized sink.

"What do you think?" Draco asked, wrapping his arms around Harry's waist from behind.

"Why is it so big?" he asked in reply.

"Because you deserve it", Draco replied, nuzzling his neck.

"Why green and silver?"

"Why not? I'm a Slytherin, and you should have been one too. Besides, I based it on my bed at home, and the thought of you in my bed will definitely keep me going through the cold winter nights..."

"Yeah, yeah", Harry smirked, turning in Draco's arms. "Bath before bed?" he asked pulling back, teasingly removing his clothing. Draco groaned audibly as he followed Harry into the bathroom, stripping off his own clothes.

The two of them soaked in the bath for quite a while before they got out, pulling on some fresh underwear before heading towards the bed.

"Draco?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you, I mean..." Harry broke off, yawning.

"I told you earlier, I just want to stay with you tonight, we don't need to do anything. Besides, we're both tired, and it's almost 2am, so let's go to bed, okay?" Draco replied, climbing into the oversized bed.

"Sure", Harry replied, yawning again. He got into the bed beside Draco, cuddling up close to his boyfriend.

"Comfortable?" Draco asked.

"Yeah", Harry replied, already dozing off. Draco pulled Harry closer, both of them falling into a pleasant sleep.

* * *

Just before the start of the Christmas holidays Naruto gathered most of the other shinobi together for an emergency meeting. It was 5am and most of the students were still in bed.

"Naruto-sama, where are Gai-sensei and Kakashi-san?" Lee asked.

"That's why we're here so early", Naruto responded. "Last night, there was an incident, and Gai and Kakashi are currently not in the castle as a result. Kakashi sent a shadow clone to me last night..."

**_Naruto was lying awake in his bed, still annoyed at Sasuke for repeatedly evading his questions. _I'm so weak when it comes to him,_ he said to himself._ Not anymore though, I won't let him get away from me again! _Naruto decided to wake Sasuke up, and had just sat up in his bed, when a shadow clone of Kakashi appeared in a cloud of smoke._**

_**"Kakashi, what...?"**_

_**"Sorry for just popping in, not interrupting am I?" Kakashi teased in a quiet voice. "Seriously, though, something's happened", he continued, still quietly, as if he didn't want Sasuke to know what was going on. Naruto followed clone-Kakashi into the main living area.**_

_**"What is it?" Naruto asked, wondering why Kakashi had been reluctant to speak when Sasuke was there ****–**_**even though he was probably awake, why would it make a difference to Kakashi if Sasuke heard if it's to do with our mission? _Naruto asked himself._**

_**"Potter-san had some sort of dream. Apparently he's had them before – only this time was different. He went to tell Professor McGonagall, who took him to see Professor Dumbledore. Gai and I overheard their conversation with McGonagall, and I also followed into Dumbledore's office under genjutsu. Potter-san revealed that, in his dream, Weasley's father was attacked by a giant snake, and it seems that it wasn't just a dream, but Potter was seeing something happening miles away as it was happening. He was also seeing it through the eyes of the snake, which seemed to worry everyone. Dumbledore had a bird watch for anyone approaching, so it's likely that, wherever Weasley was, he wasn't supposed to be there, as the bird seemed to be keeping a lookout for Umbridge. Weasley's children and Potter-san have been sent to a safe house in London somewhere, and I requested Gai and I be sent as well, revealing myself after they had left and letting Gai into the office as well. We've already gone – I would have waited for your permission, but Umbridge was approaching, and we needed to leave."**_

_**"Okay then", Naruto said, thinking through everything. "That's fine, keep an eye on everyone at the safe house. Sasuke and I will be there as well tomorrow morning, after I tell the others what's going on, and we can watch them in shifts there. The other four can handle the castle – some of the students have left for the holidays anyway, so there are fewer people here – I'm sure the others can handle it." Kakashi nodded before his clone popped into smoke.**_

"So, that's what happened", Naruto concluded. "The four of you will be okay here, right?"

"Of course, Naruto-sama! Our Youthful Spirits will be enough to protect the remaining students while the four of you protect Potter-san and his friends!" Lee almost shouted with a thumbs-up. Beside Naruto, Neji groaned slightly, having been woken up early. Suigetsu groaned as well, much more audibly, as he buried his face in his arms. "Come on!" Lee continued. "The four of us will have no problem!"

"How can you be so perky when we've been up all night already?" Tenten groaned.

"It's because of my Youthful Spirit!" Lee announced.

"Okay, Sasuke we should go", Naruto said. The other shinobi nodded and stood up, following Naruto to Dumbledore's office as Lee continued to shout about his youth while Neji and Suigetsu tried to wake themselves up for their shifts.

* * *

It was early morning at Number 12 Grimmauld Place, and Harry was helping Sirius prepare some breakfast while everyone else sat around waiting for news. The two shinobi who had arrived just after them were standing to one side of the room, merely observing everyone. Mrs Weasley had arrived to tell them that Arthur would be fine before deciding to help with breakfast. As the wizards were eating, two of the other shinobi turned up and pulled the two already there to one side, talking to them quietly, before the first two excused themselves to the room which they had been assigned, leaving the second two to continue watching them. The wizards then spent the rest of the morning sleeping before heading to the wizarding hospital, St. Mungo's, the second pair of shinobi accompanying them.

When they arrived and reached the ward, Naruto looked around. There were three other patients in the room, Mr Weasley occupying the bed furthest from the door. He was propped up by several pillows and reading the newspaper, looking mostly fine, although he did reveal to the others that he started bleeding every time the medical staff attempted to remove the bandages. Naruto thought it was strange that he refused to reveal where he had been, apparently for some political reason involving the Ministry.

"What do you think he was doing?" Naruto asked Sasuke under his breath, the two of them remaining at some distance from the others. "He said he was guarding something, but if it were something at the Ministry why would he be needed?"

"Perhaps it's something the Ministry doesn't know needs protecting? Or believes is protected enough, but Dumbledore wants extra protection for it? Or maybe even something which Dumbledore himself wants?" Sasuke mused, speaking too quietly for anyone but Naruto to hear. When Mrs Weasley had the students leave, Naruto and Sasuke were asked to leave as well. Rather than argue, they did so, although both knew that Naruto's enhanced hearing would allow him to hear what was said though Mr Weasley was on the far side of the room from the door.

As they travelled back to Grimmauld Place on the Underground, Sasuke spoke to Naruto, both standing a little back from the others, who were taking up the entire carriage: "Did you hear anything?"

"They didn't specifically mention what needed guarding, although it seems that they believe Harry is being possessed by Voldemort in some way, apparently his dreams aren't normal."

"Potter and his friends used those Extendable Ears...how much do you think they heard?"

"Probably most of it", Naruto sighed. "Which would explain that", he continued, motioning to Harry, who was silently staring out of the window as the train they were on continued on its way through the dark tunnel.

Harry was ignoring everything around him. _Voldemort needs a weapon, _he said to himself. _Am I that weapon? Is that why there are so many people guarding me, including ninjas? So that I don't hurt anyone? If Voldemort is possessing me, can he see what I can? Does he know about me and Draco? What should I do?_

When they returned, Harry isolated himself in his bedroom, still concerned about what he might do to those around him, although he knew that there was nowhere he could go to keep people safe. Phineas, a former Headmaster and a Black, who had portraits in Dumbledore's office and in Grimmauld Place, brought Harry a message from Dumbledore. The message merely ordered Harry to stay where he was, annoying the young wizard, who wanted more information. He fell into a restless sleep, again dreaming of the corridor, before waking up later that afternoon and joining the others downstairs.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, both shinobi standing to one side of the room as Harry entered and joined the others.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think Harry is okay? He is very distant."

"If you found out your enemy could possess you and you had no way to fight him off, how would you feel?"

"I guess", Naruto responded. "You should be careful, you know, teme, saying things like that...people might think you're going soft." He ignored the death glare levelled at the back of his head as he wandered over to where the wizards were putting up various decorations, asking them what they were doing.

"Christmas decorations", was the only response he got, as if it should have been obvious.

"Christmas?" Naruto repeated. the wizards looked at him.

"I guess you don't have it", Granger said dismissively. She had arrived earlier that morning to join her friends.

"It's a holiday where people give each other presents", Ron continued. "There are other traditions as well, but that's the main thing." Naruto looked around in interest as everyone put up decorations, singing songs as they did so.

"What do you think?" Naruto asked as he rejoined Sasuke.

"Hn", was the only reply he got from his teammate. Naruto wasn't expecting more of a reply, especially given his earlier comment about Sasuke going soft, so he just shrugged off Sasuke's non-committal response and continued watching the others decorate.

* * *

Later that night, Harry lay in his bed awake. He was worried about what might happen if he fell asleep, although he knew realistically that he would fall asleep sooner or later. It was around midnight, and Ron was snoring from the other side of the room when Harry noticed a glow in his trunk, which quickly subsided. Harry quietly stood up and crossed the room, opening his trunk and quickly locating the source of the light, a wrapped present with a tag on it: _Harry, Happy Christmas, Draco._ Harry smiled to himself, opening the paper and quietly pulling out the present, wondering how Draco managed to sneak it into his trunk before it was sent to Grimmauld Place. The present was a leather bound book. Harry pushed the wrapping back into his trunk, burying it to hide it, before settling back down into his bed, running his fingers across the cover of the book, which was engraved with unusual patterns. He opened it up, and a slip of paper fell out. He picked it up and read it.

_Harry,_

_This is a two-way journal, I have the other copy. Whatever one of us writes will appear in the other book, so we can communicate even when we're far away from each other. When we sign our name at the bottom the message will be sent to the other person. This present is hidden by a spell which will cause it to be revealed at midnight on Christmas, and I am going to sneak it into your trunk now, even though Christmas is still a few weeks away, to make sure you have it. _

_Draco._

Harry smiled to himself, finding a quill and ink and lighting his wand tip. He sat up cross-legged and pulled his bedcovers over his head, the ink held between his legs as he wrote into the book. He used the bedcovers to obscure the light from his wand, which he directed at the page, all the time trying to avoid waking Ron up.

_Draco,_

_Thank you for the present, it's really thoughtful, and I'm glad that we can talk all the time. I know you may be wondering what happened, why I'm not at Hogwarts. Forcing myself to have those dreams, like you suggested a few weeks ago, made no difference, so I stopped trying, just waited to see what would happen. I had a dream that was different – I was inside Voldemort's snake, and I saw as it attacked Arthur Weasley. I had to tell Dumbledore, so he sent me and the other Weasleys to the Order Headquarters. I don't know how my dream worked, but the Order members think that Voldemort may have possessed me somehow. Please be careful – if they're right, he may know anything, including about us._

_Happy Christmas to you as well, I hope whatever you're doing isn't too bad. I may have to stop writing abruptly, as Ron is asleep in the same room, so don't worry if I suddenly sign my name in the middle of the sentence. Stupid Gryffindors – can't let them find out about us._

_About the possession thing...what do you think? I don't want them to be right, and they might not be, but I can't think of anything else Voldemort may be doing to me, or how else I could see through the eyes of his snake. I don't know if you're at school or at home, but if you have the opportunity to research what could be happening to me..._

_I miss you a lot, and I can't wait until the first Saturday night after we come back, but we'll probably come back right before term starts, on Sunday, so it could be a while. If you want to write back to me, please only do so at night, so no-one sees any glowing or anything from the journal._

_I can't tell you exactly where I am, although I do know a way to get around the wards over the Order Headquarters to tell you the location...but I don't want to endanger you by letting you know the location._

_I'll see you soon,_

_Love,_

_Harry._

Harry blew on the ink to dry it, watching as it faded into the paper and out of sight, presumably appearing in Draco's journal. He closed the book and extinguished the light from his wand, pulling the bedcovers down and looking over to where Ron was still snoring. He returned the quill and ink and hid the journal under his mattress, before settling into bed, feeling more comfortable already just by sending a message to his boyfriend. He closed his eyes, still smiling, and allowed himself to drift asleep, although he was still worried about what might happen.

* * *

While Harry was in his and Ron's room writing to Draco, another important conversation was going on down the corridor. Naruto and Sasuke were continuing to keep watch during the day, while Kakashi and Gai patrolled the house at night, keeping the same shifts as they had at Hogwarts. Gai and Kakashi were currently wandering around the house, while Naruto and Sasuke were asleep – or so the other two shinobi thought. The group of shinobi had been given two adjoining rooms with two beds each, and Naruto and Sasuke were in their beds at the moment.

"I still think you should let me sleep with you", Sasuke said, almost leering.

"I said no, the other two could come into our room at any time."

"But..."

"Sasuke, why did you come back to the village?" Naruto asked abruptly.

"Naruto..." Sasuke said, moving to sit on Naruto's bed.

"Don't try flirting, don't evade the question, just tell me what happened. Everyone believed that, once you killed Itachi, there'd be no reason for you to return, but you did, and people think that I convinced you somehow...yet I don't know the reason. It's not like I'm just going to stand up and announce it to the whole village, I won't even tell the Elders or Tsunade-baa-chan, but I can't honestly tell them that I trust you when I don't understand."

"Naruto", Sasuke sighed. He lifted one of his hands to Naruto's cheek, but the blond flinched away, not letting Sasuke touch him. _I can't tell him, can I? _Sasuke asked himself. _I have to tell him something, but I...no, I have to tell him..._ "Naruto", Sasuke said again. "When Itachi died, he...he dropped a scroll. I was curious what he could possibly have to say to me, so I read it. In the message, he told me the truth – he told me that he massacred the clan under orders from the village, as the clan were planning a coup...they were going to kill anyone necessary to take control of the village. Itachi followed orders, he did what he had to do, and in the message he asked me to protect the village." Sasuke stood up, his back to Naruto. "And that's what I'll do, protect the village, no matter what." Naruto put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder, turning him around to face him.

"So, how exactly did playing matchmaker between Sai and Gaara protect the village?" Naruto teased.

"I was hoping you'd forgotten about that usuratonkachi", Sasuke grumbled under his breath. Naruto chuckled slightly.

"I'm not stupid, and I'm not going to forget something like that. So, how then? How did almost causing a political situation protect the village?"

"You know, I may have said I'd protect the village, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to take revenge on those who annoy me", Sasuke pointed out, leaning over Naruto.

"Well, yeah, but..."

"And denying me what I want is an annoyance", Sasuke continued, pressing himself against Naruto.

"Why are you doing this then?" Naruto asked. "You may have come back to protect the village, but you started this – whatever this is – with me pretty quickly, right?"

"Firstly, I didn't just come back for the village, it's to protect Itachi's legacy. Secondly, we're lovers. And, thirdly, I don't care how quick this started, you're mine now, and I'm not letting go. Got it?" he asked, nipping Naruto's ear as the blond stretched out beneath him.

"Yeah, but we're still not doing anything when Kakashi or Gai could wander in at any moment."

"Fine, but you'll have to make it up to me when we're back at the school", Sasuke smirked. _I'll protect Itachi's legacy, protect the village and...that person. But I'm staying with Naruto no matter what...I may have had another plan when I first returned, but Naruto would never have accepted it and I don't want to lose him, so I'll stay with him, and as for that person..._

"What about your clan?" Naruto asked, as Sasuke got back into his own bed.

"I'll restore my clan myself, like I was always going to", Sasuke replied, lying down in bed.

"For what it's worth, I'll do anything I can to help you."

"Well, I did assume you'd want to protect the village, as you are the Hokage."

"No, not that...well, yeah, I want to protect the village, that's obvious, but...I'll help you restore your clan, anyway I can", Naruto said, grinning at his lover.

"Naruto..."

"Just accept it, Sasuke, I'll help you whether you want my help or not." Naruto lay back down as well, closing his eyes and falling asleep. Sasuke closed his eyes as well. _I'll hold you to that, dobe, _he said to himself. _Whatever you can do...that's not very specific, but I will hold you to it. I am going to restore my clan, and that person...I don't know anymore, perhaps Naruto would be good enough, not definite but...there wouldn't be any conflict, would there? So it might be okay. Either way, I won't lose my dobe._ Sasuke settled down to sleep, listening to Naruto on the other side of the room. _And I'll find a way to make him forget about that Gaara and Sai thing too, _he decided as he fell asleep.

* * *

Harry was sitting on his own quietly again, looking out the windows as the Knight Bus raced through the streets, taking them back to Hogwarts. The four shinobi were also on board, three of them just sitting quietly, while one kept going on about youth and loudly announcing everything he could see out of the windows. Harry ignored them as well as the other wizards, thinking over what had happened in the last few weeks – he had found out that Voldemort was possessing him and had to deal with everyone trying to be happy about Christmas, all the while worrying about his boyfriend. _It would have helped if he'd written back quicker, __rather than taken almost a week to reply to me, _Harry thought to himself. A_nd even then he only sent a short message saying he was glad I liked the present...does he hate me now? After all, I told him about what may be going on with Voldemort, does he hate me now he knows I could be possessed at any time? Or was he just busy over the holidays? He may have had to hide his own book, so he didn't notice that I wrote for a while. He also may have been worried that his parents would find the book and discover our relationship...once we get back, I can't see him again until Saturday night, and today's Sunday, so it'll be almost a week..._ Harry sighed to himself, thinking about the other presents he had gotten, although none was as good as Draco's. To be honest though, Harry was more concerned about what was going to happen tomorrow night...

_**Harry was playing wizard's chess against Ron while Hermione and Ginny watched, as well as one of the shinobi, Naruto Uzumaki, who was half watching them from one side of the room. Harry briefly wondered how someone could stand around doing nothing but watch them for the entire day. He also wondered when they ate, as the shinobi did not join them for meals. He was watching one of his rooks battle with one of Ron's pawns when Mrs Weasley called to him from the kitchen. He didn't fully register what she'd said, and nor did the others, but he walked into the kitchen nonetheless, leaving the chess match for a moment. When he entered the kitchen, he saw Sirius and Snape, both seated at the long kitchen table, glaring in opposite directions. He made himself known and Snape ordered him to sit down, sparking off an argument between Sirius and Snape about the latter's right to give Harry orders outside of school.**_

_**"Professor, what do you want to see me for?" Harry asked, interrupting their argument.**_

_**"The Headmaster has sent me to tell you, Potter, that it is his wish for you to study Occlumency this term", Snape replied. **_**Occlumency?**_** Harry repeated to himself. **_**If it's going on now I can reasonably assume that whatever it is has something to do with Voldemort's possession – something to defend myself against possession perhaps? **_**Harry realised he should pretend he didn't understand what was going on, as he wasn't supposed to know what was said inside the ward at St. Mungo's involving Voldemort possessing him.**_

_**"Study what?" he asked blankly. "Ockle-oo-mans, what?"**_

_**"Occlumency, Potter, do try to learn the word, it isn't that difficult", Snape sneered at him. "The Headmaster thinks it is a good idea for you to learn the skill. You will receive private lessons once a week, and you are to tell no-one, especially not Dolores Umbridge, do you understand?"**_

_**Harry nodded weakly, **_**I know it's important, but if he's the one who's here, then does that mean...**_**"Who will be teaching me?"**_

_**"I will", Snape replied. **_**Of course you will,**_** Harry said to himself. **_**Well, that's another night a week I lose homework time, I think I'm going to have to learn to survive with less sleep, although I already get only around four or five hours a night. This Occlumency thing will probably be useful, but I doubt Snape will actually be able to completely teach me, not while he's pretending to be on Voldemort's side (if it really even is pretend). Either way, I may have to learn it for myself, or at least practice outside of these lessons. On top of that I have to learn parselmagic, study anything else I need to know for the war, worry about the ninjas as well as school stuff like classes and homework, as well as make time to see Draco...at least I haven't got Quidditch any more...**_** Harry realised that Sirius and Snape were arguing about what the Headmaster had ordered. He wondered if he should try to stop their argument, especially when it escalated to the point that they both drew wands, but the two of them were interrupted by Arthur Weasley returning from the hospital, his wounds fully healed. The two wizards lowered their wands and Snape headed to leave.**_

_**"Six o'clock, Monday evening, Potter", Snape said on his way out.**_

Harry watched the rolling countryside as the Knight Bus sped through England and into Scotland, wondering what these lessons with Snape would be like. _Guess I'll find out tomorrow night, _he said to himself as the Knight Bus arrived in Hogsmeade. _And I hope Draco doesn't hate me and still meets me on Saturday night – I think I'll need to see him, this is going to be a long week._

* * *

When Naruto, Sasuke, Gai and Kakashi arrived at Hogwarts on Sunday evening, they found the other four shinobi waiting for them in their shared quarters. The eight of them sat down at the table, after Tenten explained that they had clones patrolling just in case.

"So, what happened at the safe house?" Suigetsu asked.

"I think they were there more as it was close to the hospital where Weasley-san was being treated. They visited him a couple of times before he returned", Naruto said.

"Did anything of importance happen?" Neji asked.

"Not really", Kakashi replied lazily. "The wizards are trying to cover up what happened to Harry and aren't even telling him everything that they know, including whatever Weasley was doing in the Ministry."

"So they have something to hide", Tenten said. "Well, I guess we already knew that, it seems to be a normal thing for wizards, hiding everything from each other, even allies who should share knowledge."

"They don't tell us much either", Suigetsu pointed out.

"Well, anyway, what happened here while we were gone?" Naruto asked.

"There were rumours about what may have happened to Potter-san and his friends", Neji replied. "They left for the holidays, but not at the same time as everyone else, so various possibilities circulated."

"Anything interesting?" Kakashi asked.

"Not really", Suigetsu yawned, leaning back on his chair. "Just mostly stuff about them leaving in secret because they were ashamed to be seen in public, and other stupid stuff like that."

"Immature", Sasuke noted. The other shinobi looked at him, surprised that he had actually spoken at one of their meetings, even if it was only a single word.

"Okay then", Naruto said, drawing the others' attention back to himself. "Well, if there's nothing else, I need to have a shower and get some sleep, are you four okay to patrol without us for the rest of today?"

"Of course we are, Naruto-sama", Lee said, putting his thumb up and grinning widely as his teeth glinted. With that, Lee and Tenten went to start their patrols, Tenten providing two shadow clones to keep up the numbers. Neji and Suigetsu went to bed, having patrolled all day.

"I am not tired at all, Hokage-sama, I believe I will go outside and do some training!" Gai announced.

"It's snowing Gai", Kakashi said lazily, having already pulled out one of his books to read.

"That doesn't bother me at all, my Eternal Rival! I will train no matter what the weather!" Gai continued, before making for the door.

"Try not to be too over-the-top", Naruto called after him. He didn't hear a response but decided to just leave the over-exuberant shinobi to it. He excused himself to shower, and Sasuke went towards his and Naruto's room.

"Sasuke", Kakashi said. Sasuke, who had been leaving the room as well, heading towards his and Naruto's room, paused and stood still, although he didn't turn to face his former sensei. "Can I talk to you please? In private if you don't mind."

"Hn", Sasuke responded. Kakashi decided to take that as an affirmative, snapping his book closed and leading the younger male into his and Gai's room. He closed the door, watching as the built-in silencing charms activated.

"I want to know why you came back to Konoha", Kakashi stated, his visible eye narrowing slightly.

"That's not your concern", Sasuke replied.

"I believe it is, especially as I'm not certain that anyone knows your reasons."

"Naruto", was Sasuke's only response.

"Do you mean you returned for him or that he is aware of your reasons?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke's dark eyes narrowed, the barest hints of anger becoming evident on his normally expressionless face.

"Naruto knows."

"Would you mind sharing?"

"Ask him", Sasuke said dismissively. "And, when he won't tell you, you'll realise that it's not your business."

"Maybe not, but it is my business to protect my Hokage, and if you're a threat to him..."

"You'll do what?" Sasuke almost growled, Sharingan swirling in his eyes. Before the silver-haired shinobi could respond, Gai burst into the room energetically.

"My Rival! I have just thought of a new way to challenge you – let us have a snowball fight! Whoever collapses from tiredness first is the loser and must climb up the side of the castle to the top of one of the towers, without using any chakra!"

"Gai...", Kakashi began.

"Perhaps you should accept", Sasuke said, deactivating his Sharingan but still maintaining his Uchiha death glare. "After all, the two of you compete all the time, right?"

"Oh, Kakashi!" Gai said, bursting into tears. "Everyone knows of our rivalry, don't they? It warms my heart that you speak of it so often!"

"Gai, I'm not sure..."

"Go on, Kakashi, I'm sure our conversation can wait", Sasuke said, smirking. Kakashi glared at him before accepting Gai's challenge, following Gai out of the room. The two of them left the door open, and as Sasuke went to leave, Naruto appeared in the doorway.

"What was all that about?" he asked. "And why are you in their room teme?"

"Naruto", Sasuke almost purred. "We haven't been together in a few weeks now...And you are only in a towel..."

"That's because I just had a shower!" Naruto almost shouted. Sasuke grabbed his bare arm, still warm from the heat of the shower, and pulled the blond into the room, throwing him onto one of the beds as the door slammed behind them.

"That's not the point", Sasuke said, crawling onto all fours above Naruto's body. "You shouldn't test my ability to resist you...and you look so...delicious." He purred the last word into Naruto's ear, grinding his body down against Naruto's at the same time. Any protest Naruto had died on his lips, as Sasuke's words travelled straight to his groin, and the dark-haired male earned a groan from his lover. Sasuke pulled back, quickly stripping his own clothes and yanking the towel from Naruto's body, before flipping Naruto onto his front, pulling the blond's ass into the air to slip two dry fingers inside. Naruto groaned in discomfort, but this changed to a moan as he felt Sasuke's tongue wiggling in alongside his fingers, stretching Naruto open. Sasuke soon pulled back, entering Naruto and setting a brutal pace, while the blond beneath him fisted his hands in the sheets, moaning and cursing as Sasuke battered his prostate with repeated thrusts.

"Nngh, Sasuke! Just – ah! – there, yes!" Naruto moaned.

"Fuck...Naruto, always so tight for me", Sasuke groaned, knowing that he wouldn't last long, especially given where they were...

It wasn't long before Naruto tensed up, screaming Sasuke's name as his come splattered onto the sheets beneath him. Sasuke stilled inside Naruto for a moment before allowing himself his own release, spurting inside Naruto before withdrawing himself from his lover's body. He rolled over, pulling Naruto with him so that the blond wouldn't collapse into his own pool of come.

"Enjoy that?" Sasuke asked, as Naruto nuzzled into his chest.

"Pervert", Naruto muttered. "And I can hear the smirk in your voice."

"Sure, usuratonkachi." Naruto didn't respond for a moment, but then his eyes suddenly opened, and he shot up, not noticing Sasuke's come dripping out of his hole onto the sheets.

"Sasuke! This is Gai and Kakashi's room!"

"Is it?" Sasuke asked, feigning innocence. "I guess you distracted me by wandering around in a towel...after all, it's not like I realised where we were...or noticed the books on the nightstand showing that this is Kakashi's bed..."

"Damn you! Why am I always surrounded by perverts!" Naruto stormed out of the room, forgetting his nakedness, before Sasuke heard the door to their own room slam. He stood up and dressed himself before heading to the door. He looked back at Kakashi's bed – rumpled, covered with drying come which would stain, Naruto's wet towel flung across one corner of the bed – and smirked. _That's what you get for messing with a Uchiha, _he thought to himself as he returned to his own room and his pissed-off lover.

* * *

**A/N - Please read and review!**

**Next Chapter - Occlumency, more Drarry, and a secret involving Harry is revealed...**


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